International Competition Venue

This competition will follow the international competition format, meaning it’s designed to get everyone used to the system.

The competition will be held over two days. Each day’s exam lasts 4.5 hours, with three problems to solve per day. That’s six problems total over the two days. Each problem is worth a maximum of 7 points, for a total of 42 points.

The practice problems we prepared for you earlier were all designed with this framework in mind. Although the difficulty varies, the same applies to the international competition.

So this set of problems is no different. They mainly come from four major areas: algebra, geometry, number theory, and combinatorics.

Teacher Bai explained the competition format clearly.

His gaze swept across the remaining twenty-plus people.

Since the Chinese team first participated in 1985, we’ve taken first place in the overall team standings sixteen times. We’ve also achieved multiple perfect team gold medals. I hope everyone can keep up the good work this time too.

The test papers were handed out.

As expected, there were only three problems. Everyone immediately read the questions, jotted down rough drafts, and started working on them.

Lin Mo was no exception—except that while others wrote drafts, he went straight to writing the answers.

He finished all three problems in less than half an hour.

Just like in the previous two competitions, he was the first to turn in his paper.

At first, some people had questioned Lin Mo’s abilities.

But mathematical talent is easy to verify.

Before long, the doubts faded to zero. In fact, quite a few people started asking Lin Mo for his problem-solving approaches.

After turning in his paper, Lin Mo went back to continue his cultivation training.

Once tomorrow was over, he planned to head back to Yangcheng.

As for matters in Tianjing, he didn’t need to handle them for now. After all, Xu Wendong could deal with them, and Long Tianqi could manage things himself.

There was nothing else for him to do in Tianjing anyway.

He might as well go back and enjoy his campus life.

Returning to his room, he saw Dongfang Shuye playing games on his computer.

That guy had actually been missing for over ten days.

“Done with all the Diamond Dog stuff?”

“Not yet, but not everything requires me to handle it personally. Anyway, our place here is really leaky. The one who killed Qin Suishou is a woman named Mary Qiong. She’s an overseas Chinese, and she belongs to the Mossad intelligence agency.”

Lin Mo raised an eyebrow at that. He hadn’t known that detail.

Mossad is the highest intelligence agency of the squid country.

It made sense for them to plant someone inside Diamond Dog.

Just like Zhuge Chen, who was a member of Xu Wendong’s organization, right?

You could say that when you’re out in the world, you’ve got too many identities to keep track of.

“By the way, that international competition at the end of December will require you to go abroad,” Dongfang Shuye said, tapping the table to get Lin Mo’s attention. “This year, the math Olympiad is being held in South Korea. Over there...”

He trailed off mid-sentence, suddenly hesitant.

He’d originally meant to remind Lin Mo to keep a low profile and not cause trouble.

But if he actually said that out loud, knowing this guy’s personality, it might just provoke him into action.

Instead of backing off, he’d probably go knocking on doors looking for a fight.

Dongfang Shuye swallowed the rest of his words and rephrased more delicately: “Anyway, keep your wits about you for everything.”

Lin Mo saw right through Dongfang Shuye’s little concern. He waved his hand nonchalantly.

“Those clowns from South Korea? They’re nothing special. If they don’t come looking for trouble, we’ll all get along fine. But if they insist on making a scene, I’ll give them a taste of my fist.”

Lin Mo said it lightly, but Dongfang Shuye, worried about diplomatic fallout, immediately cut in.

“Kid, you better watch yourself! Diplomacy is no small matter. At this stage, China doesn’t have much of an upper hand in the international court of public opinion. Our status is still that of a developing country. A lot of the time, we’re at a disadvantage no matter how clear our reasoning is.”

Lin Mo shot him a sidelong glance, thinking the comrade here still had too narrow a view.

He couldn’t tell Dongfang Shuye that in the future, China would become a world power, calling the shots on the global stage.

That would just make the guy arrogant.

“Relax, I’ve got it under control,” Lin Mo said casually.

He really did have it under control. In his mind, there wasn’t anyone in South Korea who could stop him if it came down to it.

“Got it under control or not, you’d better listen up!” Dongfang Shuye’s expression turned serious. “South Korea’s situation is complicated. There are two organizations you absolutely need to keep in mind.”

“Oh? Let’s hear it. What kind of organizations are supposed to be such a big deal?”

Lin Mo was actually quite interested now.

“The first one is the Eternal Heavenly Life Cult,” Dongfang Shuye said, lowering his voice. “On the surface, it’s a religious group, but in reality, it’s a full-blown cult. This sect has incredibly deep penetration and has amassed a ton of political capital among South Korea’s elite. They’re deeply entrenched and very tricky to deal with.”

Lin Mo seemed to have some awareness of this.

Eternal Heavenly Life Cult.

That name was all too familiar to him.

In fourteen years, a tragedy would shock the world.

And the shadowy hand behind it was precisely this cult.

It wouldn’t be until two years later that the horrifying truth hidden inside the cult would be fully exposed.

The mastermind behind all of it was also this Eternal Heavenly Life Cult.

Lin Mo kept his expression neutral and gestured for Dongfang Shuye to continue.

“The other one is South Korea’s official Superhuman Youth Corps,” Dongfang Shuye went on, a hint of disdain creeping into his tone. “They use special methods to artificially cultivate ability users. They’re essentially a government-run superhuman military unit. But this approach has a fatal flaw. The artificially created ability users have extremely short lifespans—basically none of them live past thirty.”

“Thirty years and they’re done?” Lin Mo clicked his tongue. “Aren’t they just disposable products? South Korea’s government sure knows how to manage resources.”

“You said it,” Dongfang Shuye sighed. “So yeah, it’s a real mess over there.”

Lin Mo found it hard to stomach. “Doesn’t South Korea have any normal ability-user organizations?”

“There is one, actually. It’s called the Trustkeeping Society. It’s a fairly decent and upright organization. But they’re short-staffed, have almost no funding—hardly worth mentioning.”

This was a textbook case of bad money driving out good.

Lin Mo finished listening and tapped his fingers lightly on the table, lost in thought.

A cult, a short-lived official unit, and a dirt-poor honest organization.

He suddenly felt that going abroad for the math Olympiad might not be as boring as he’d imagined.

But at that moment, Dongfang Shuye suddenly added, “Oh, and the strongest member of the Superhuman Youth Corps goes by the name Demon Witch. If this person messes with you, don’t hold back.”

Lin Mo raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? There’s a story behind that?”

“Our spy planted in South Korea was found by her. The body they sent back was nothing but bones and skin. It looks like they went through unspeakable torture.”

Lin Mo’s heart felt heavy hearing that.

The brutality of work on the secret front was far more cruel than he’d ever imagined.

But that was a problem for December.