Time passed by minute by minute, and Lao Cai's fingers hovered over the computer keyboard.
Lao Cai is a careful person. When he writes programs, he pursues perfection. He turned his head to discuss with Xiao Liang how to improve the efficiency of the program. Lin Zhixia couldn't find a chance to interrupt, so she could only sit in her seat and listen quietly to Lao Cai and Xiao Liang's heated conversation.
Lao Cai felt that he had excluded Lin Zhixia from the team. He felt a little guilty. He told a joke to liven up the atmosphere and asked Lin Zhixia to help him check the code.
Lin Zhixia took a quick look and confirmed that there was no problem with Lao Cai's program.
Previously, Lin Zhixia had pointed out that Lao Cai's "binary string should not be shifted left by two bits." However, it now seems that Lao Cai's thinking is correct. Lin Zhixia apologized to him: "I'm sorry, I was wrong just now. I didn't expect you to write it like this. Your solution method is completely different from mine."
Lao Cai adjusted the position of his chair. While submitting the code, he said to Lin Zhixia, "Hurry up, let's study the sixth question. The sixth question is algebraic geometry..."
Before Lao Cai finished his sentence, Xiao Liang tapped the table with his finger: "The fifth question is wrong."
Lao Cai and Lin Zhixia raised their heads at the same time and looked at the computer screen.
IHSPC is a brutal and rigorous competition. The scores of each team are updated in real time and are open and transparent. When a contestant uploads the code for a certain problem, the background program will immediately determine the score.
Right or wrong, points scored or points deducted, it all depends on a single thought and a single moment.
Old Cai felt a huge pressure. He held his breath and said in a hoarse voice: "Did we write the fifth question incorrectly?"
There was a big mistake in the fifth question, which resulted in a 7-point deduction. The overall ranking of the Provincial No. 1 Middle School dropped from sixth to seventeenth.
So far, the Russian and Korean teams are far ahead, and several Chinese teams are following closely. Provincial No. 1 Middle School has no advantage at all. Lin Zhixia is nervous and hurriedly checks the feedback from the backend. She said: "You used a binary string to represent the set in question 5, and shifting two bits to the left represents multiplication by 4, but you missed one case... I was also wrong, I didn't read every line of your code carefully."
Old Cai frowned tightly, his face gloomy. He held the mouse and refreshed the page. The ranking of the competition was updated again - Provincial No. 1 Middle School fell to 19th place.
Lin Zhixia always ranked first in the grade in every exam. She had never seen a score of "19th". She was a little confused. Lao Cai was still correcting the fifth question. Xiao Liang comforted him, "Lao Cai, don't worry, there is still a chance."
Mr. Cai submitted the fifth question for the second time and it was again judged as “error”.
This "error" means "mistake". The Provincial No. 1 Middle School was deducted another 4 points, and its overall ranking continued to decline.
"It's really terrible." Old Cai sighed.
Lin Zhixia pushed away Lao Cai's hand and grabbed the keyboard. She added a new variable based on Lao Cai's program. She clicked the left mouse button and pressed the green confirmation button. However, she did not turn the tide. "Error" appeared repeatedly, and the ranking of "Provincial No. 1 Middle School" fell to 43rd place.
Xiao Liang criticized mercilessly: "Lin Zhixia, you handed it in too quickly. We didn't see your writing clearly."
At this time, Lin Zhixia took out the test paper and reread the stem of question 5. She said to her teammates, "I know, we all remembered this question wrong. Two weeks ago, when the teacher was training us, he gave us a question that was 80% similar to question 5, but the constraints were completely different..."
Before Lin Zhixia finished speaking, Xiao Liang and Lao Cai were already working together to revise it.
They were all inspired by the gambler mentality.
The more badly they fail on the fifth question, the more they will try until they get it right.
Lin Zhixia pointed at the screen and suggested: "Delete this function, it is redundant code."
The so-called "redundant code" refers to the code that is not necessary.
Xiao Liang's fingers moved rapidly on the keyboard, but he ignored Lin Zhixia. Xiao Liang and Lao Cai lowered their heads and whispered to each other for a while, exchanged opinions seriously, and submitted the answer to the fifth question again - this time, they finally succeeded.
The huge competition venue was filled with conversations in various languages.
The Russian team on the other side was chatting and laughing, they were currently ranked first in the whole competition. The Estonian team next door looked solemn, and the three teammates were drawing pictures while discussing the sixth question.
Outside the spacious French windows, there was a wet mist. There were misty water drops on the windows, and the sky became increasingly dark and gray. The buildings in the distance stood in rows, reflected in the dark background, like a profound oil painting.
Lin Zhixia was distracted.
Lin Zhixia only got her first computer this year, while Lao Cai and Xiao Liang have been learning programming since they were young. Xiao Liang's father and mother are both programmers at a computer company in the provincial capital, so it can be said that they come from a "programmer family." Perhaps Lin Zhixia should adjust her state and work hard to do a good job in auxiliary work.
After some careful consideration, Lin Zhixia nodded. She dragged her chair closer to Lao Cai.
Old Cai opened the main page of the competition and saw that the Provincial No. 1 Middle School was ranked 49th, and the teams behind them were still on the rise. If things continued like this, they would have no hope of winning a bronze medal, let alone a gold medal.
Lin Zhixia asked in confusion: "Why are we falling further and further behind?"
Lao Cai said: "Russia and the United States have sent more than 20 teams. Look at these American high schools, they are all in the front, and even the British schools have surpassed us..."
Lin Zhixia said quickly: "I know how to answer the fourth question. As long as we answer the fourth question correctly, the score of Provincial No. 1 High School will go up!"
"How do we do the fourth question?" Old Cai asked her, "Should we use the same method as before?"
Lin Zhixia was very sure: "Yes."
Old Cai pushed up his glasses on the bridge of his nose. He still thought that Lin Zhixia's approach was wrong, just like he had written the fifth question wrong. He felt that Lin Zhixia's perception of the fourth question was wrong. He suggested that Lin Zhixia first create a set of data on the draft paper, and then substitute this set of data into her program to verify whether her method would succeed.
"I've checked it in my mind." Lin Zhixia said honestly.
Lao Cai said, "Write it down, write a few more pages, I will ask you step by step. You just submitted the fifth question without letting Xiao Liang and I check it. You made a mistake, and the team lost four points."
Lin Zhixia reached out to touch the keyboard: "At first, I thought that question 5 was a routine question we had encountered before... You and I made the same mistake. This is the principle of 'three people make a tiger' - three people confirm the same thing, no matter whether it is true or false, their first reaction is to follow the crowd."
Old Cai stroked the keyboard with his right hand. He was originally thinking about the sixth question. But Lin Zhixia's words made him inexplicably irritated. He took off his glasses, put them on the table, raised his palms, and rubbed his face violently.
Lin Zhixia's arguments were one after another, which made Lao Cai upset.
The most taboo thing in the IHSPC competition is that teammates accuse each other - Lao Cai has received more than two years of training, and he and Xiao Liang are very clear about this rule. However, Lin Zhixia didn't seem to understand, or she just felt that it didn't matter to tell the truth.
Old Cai held his forehead and said, "Lin Zhixia, how old are you this year?"
Lin Zhixia moved back an inch and said, "I'm twelve years old... I'm thirteen in lunar age, and I'll be fourteen soon."
Lao Cai pointed at himself, then at Xiao Liang: "We are several years older than you."
"Our souls are equal," Lin Zhixia murmured to herself, "Whether I am twelve or ninety-two, I will treat you the same way."
Xiao Liang said, "You are twelve years old this year, not ninety-two..."
Lin Zhixia remembered her business: "Time is tight, can I use the computer to finish the fourth question first?"
Old Cai couldn't stand it any longer and exploded, "Can't you just write down the steps? If you answer incorrectly, you will lose points. You are a human, not a god. If you make a mistake, your teammates will have to clean up the mess for you. You should be sensible at the age of twelve, right?"
Lin Zhixia paused for two seconds and confronted him: "Can you please stop attacking my age? I do make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes, as long as we correct them, the experience is meaningful."
Lao Cai collapsed and said, "Don't talk chicken soup to me."
Lin Zhixia patiently explained, "I can write down the steps for question 4, but question 4 is a recursive exponential function, so I have to write it using number theory and then apply Ferma-Euler's theorem. I saw that no one was using the keyboard, so I suggested that I write the program, and then I will explain it to you in detail with the help of the code. This will be clearer to you than what I wrote by hand. I can also write the program code on paper and then copy it into the compiler... But in this way, you may not be able to check every step I take, because the code is destined to be concise and jumpy, and you can't debug it with your naked eyes."
"Debug" is a programming term that means "troubleshooting program problems."
Lao Cai did not respond. His eyes were focused on the display screen.
The ranking of the Provincial No. 1 Middle School is still declining. There is also an African national team that has risen to the first place above the Provincial No. 1 Middle School.
African team
In Lao Cai's impression, Africa is an underdeveloped region. He watched a documentary about an African city - the outskirts of that city are the African grasslands, and lions, antelopes and zebras are running happily in the suburbs of the city, which shocked him greatly.
He was actually surpassed by the African team.
Lao Cai was not even sure whether the students of the African team were safe in their daily lives, and whether they would be chased by lions, teased by leopards, or threatened by elephants.
However, he, who received good training at the Provincial No. 1 Middle School and enjoyed the attentive hospitality of the cafeteria chef, was not as good as a team from Africa.
Old Cai's chest was filled with a stuffy air that blocked his lungs. He said slowly, "You won the gold medal in the Romanian Masters and you came to participate in the information science competition. The teacher insisted on putting you in our group, squeezing out our original teammate. The person who was squeezed out and I were good friends for five years in middle school. The teachers insisted that you were smart, strong, capable, and talented. OK, fine, I agreed to let you join the team. But you still deducted four points from us. Is this your strength?"
Lin Zhixia sat on the chair and moved back a distance. She didn't want to listen to Lao Cai anymore.
Especially when Lao Cai mentioned that he and the player who was squeezed out had been good friends for five years in middle school, Lin Zhixia suddenly thought of Jiang Yubai. If someone squeezed out Jiang Yubai's position, Lin Zhixia would definitely be very angry.
However, the information coach did not tell Lin Zhixia that Lao Cai, Xiao Liang and that person were good friends and teammates who had trained together for many years.
The coach only said: Lao Cai, Xiao Liang, Lin Zhixia, you three are the most suitable to form a team. Lin Zhixia, you have a good personality and mentality, and you have won the gold medal in mathematics in an international competition. If you form a team with Lao Cai and Xiao Liang, you will definitely win the IHSPC trophy!
Lin Zhixia was in a very low mood.
Lao Cai was still blaming her: "You gave me a wrong answer for the fifth question for the first time. You said I had missed a situation and pointed me in the wrong direction, causing me to lose seven points. After these few times of trouble, the African team was able to surpass us..."
"I've admitted that I was wrong," Lin Zhixia lowered her voice consciously as she looked at the invigilator who was getting closer and closer. "This was an accident in itself. We should share the risks and consequences because we are a team."
IHSPC regulations state that contestants can discuss in a low voice but are not allowed to make loud noises.
Lao Cai's voice was a little loud, which affected the New Zealand player sitting behind him.
The New Zealand contestant reported the situation to the invigilator. The invigilator verbally warned the team from Provincial No. 1 High School: "Excuse me, could you please lower your voice?"
Lin Zhixia hurriedly apologized: "Sorry, my teammates and I..."
Before Lin Zhixia finished speaking, the teacher stopped her and said, "That's all right."
After saying that, the teacher left.
Xiao Liang huddled in a corner and didn't hear the English questions and answers from the invigilator. He asked Lin Zhixia, "What happened?"
Lin Zhixia relayed: "The teacher asked us to keep our voices down. I said sorry, and the teacher said it was okay."
Unexpected situations occurred one after another, and Lin Zhixia and her teammates were a little absent-minded. Lin Zhixia wanted to do the fourth question, but Xiao Liang said, "Forget it, let's do the sixth and seventh questions first."
Lao Cai was writing the sixth question on his computer. He compiled it several times. Xiao Liang and Lin Zhixia helped him establish a set of input and output data standards.
Time flies by on the field. Provincial No. 1 High School's ranking rises three times and falls four times. A thin layer of sweat breaks out on Lao Cai's back. Although he answered the sixth question correctly, his method took a long time and his final score was low. He tried a different method, but the sixth question turned out to be an "error". Not only did he not earn any points, he also caused a little loss.
He quickly calmed himself down and assigned the remaining questions to his teammates.
Lin Zhixia propped her cheek with one hand and began to read the tenth question - the tenth question was the final question of this competition, involving complex integral geometry. Integral geometry was originally one of Lin Zhixia's best areas, but when she converted her mathematical thinking into programming language, the Russian team had already solved the tenth question.
The Russian team happened to be sitting right opposite Lin Zhixia.
The three Russian boys were all smiles, silently celebrating their victory. They were more than ten points ahead of the second-place Zhejiang team, and seemed destined to win the gold medal in this competition.
The Zhejiang team was in a close match with a South Korean team. Every time the South Korean team surpassed the Zhejiang team by a few points, the Zhejiang team would catch up frantically. As the game progressed, the Zhejiang team even caught up with the Russian team, only three points behind Russia.
Lin Zhixia looked at the computer screen and quietly encouraged her compatriots: "Come on Zhejiang, come on Zhejiang, let's surpass Russia soon."
Lao Cai's mother is from Zhejiang. He regrets why he is not in the Zhejiang team.
Lao Cai refreshed the page in vain. The Zhejiang team's score kept changing. Lao Cai simply closed the page. He continued to discuss the topic with his teammates, but a new disagreement arose. This time, Lao Cai and Lin Zhixia agreed, but Xiao Liang had a different opinion. Xiao Liang also said, "If Ah Zhou was here, Ah Zhou would stand on my side."
This "Ah Zhou" is the teammate who was unfortunately eliminated.
The atmosphere within the team was even more depressed.
By the end of the competition, the provincial first □□ team answered six questions correctly and reported many wrong answers. Their final ranking was 24th and they received a participation award.
At first, Lin Zhixia didn't feel sad. Almost at the moment when the conflict broke out, she had anticipated the outcome.
However, on the way back, Lao Cai and Xiao Liang took all the responsibility in front of the coach. They said that the reason for such a big mistake in this competition was that they were not in good condition on the field. Neither of them mentioned the mistake Lin Zhixia made on the fifth question.
Lin Zhixia asked Lao Cai privately, but Lao Cai said that, first, he and Xiao Liang really couldn't keep their tempers stable, and second, when he was a teammate with Zhou, he was used to helping Zhou out.
When they returned to the Provincial No. 1 Middle School, the two coaches of the information science department looked heartbroken. It turned out that the final ranking of the IHSPC was the worst result of the Provincial No. 1 Middle School in history.
In last year's competition, Provincial No. 1 Middle School won the bronze medal.
This time, the Provincial No. 1 Middle School only had a tiny participation prize.
Lin Zhixia realized it later. She left the high school department in a daze and walked back to the classroom of Grade 3 (Class 17). Her disastrous experience in Moscow, Russia, had already been spread back to the Grade 3 class. When the students in Class 17 saw her come in, no one spoke, and no one knew how to comfort her.
Lin Zhixia sat back in her seat quietly.
Jiang Yubai turned his head and looked at her: "Lin Zhixia?"
Lin Zhixia spoke in a very low voice. She said to herself, "Don't call me. Let me think about it alone. What is the problem? Is it because my attitude towards the competition is not serious enough... But I tried my best. I didn't dare to quarrel. If I made too much noise, I would be disqualified from the competition, and it would also affect the next contestants of our school... I didn't know what to do. They didn't believe in the methods I said. I didn't believe in their methods either. Later, I became more negative and depressed... During the training period, everyone got along well, but when it came to the competition, my mentality changed..."
"Lin Zhixia," Jiang Yubai interrupted her, "Everyone is affected by the environment, don't blame yourself."
Lin Zhixia's eyes were filled with tears: "Our school won the bronze medal in the last session."
"Our school did not allow girls to enroll a hundred years ago." Jiang Yubai suddenly raised this point. He said: "Tradition is not a rule, it cannot remain unchanged. Lin Zhixia, you are an excellent student."
Just as Jiang Yubai finished speaking, someone knocked on the nearby window.
Lin Zhixia's seat was by the window—she always liked to sit by the window. She raised her head and looked out the window.
Jin Baihui stood outside the classroom of Class 17, holding a notebook. Her eyes penetrated the glass and reached Lin Zhixia's eyes: "You ranked 24th? This is the worst ranking I have ever heard. You didn't work hard at all."