Chapter 115: The Ending Is Set

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“What are you doing?” Xu Yan watched as Gu Shiyan logged into his email.

“I’m looking into the judges and the organizers’ backgrounds.”

“You can actually find that out?” Qi Changbai stared at the computer screen.

“Of course you can’t find this out through official channels. You need professionals for this kind of thing.” Luo Xing watched as Gu Shiyan sent a message to an unknown email address.

Not long after, a file was sent back.

Gu Shiyan opened the file.

Inside were detailed background checks on several judges and the organizers—even their family situations were laid out in full detail.

The group stared at the complex web of relationships on the screen, clicking their tongues in disbelief. “Isn’t this just one big clique?”

“There’s really a lot of shady business behind these contests.”

“So what can we do? Are we supposed to go and accuse them? We don’t even have real evidence.”

Luo Xing’s gaze, however, lingered on one of the female judges. “This person…”

She looked strangely familiar. “And she’s Chinese, isn’t she?”

Her appearance was Chinese, but her nationality was M-country.

Gu Shiyan’s attention was clearly drawn to her as well.

She was a renowned research professor, but…

This female judge actually had connections with a company back home.

She even held shares in it.

And, as luck would have it, that company was under Gu Ming’s group.

“This judge actually has a son who goes to our school?” Qi Changbai stared at the information. It only mentioned a son, but there was no photo or name disclosed.

Gu Shiyan turned to Luo Xing. “Do you have Yao Xiangming’s contact information?”

Luo Xing: “Why do you want to contact him? Right now?”

Shen Que was also confused. Although Yao Xiangming got along well with them, he was usually unreachable during the winter and summer breaks.

“Just send me his contact info. I want to talk to him,” Gu Shiyan said, shaking his phone.

Then he logged out of the computer.

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“Wait, so you’re just going to let the judge thing go?” Xu Yan had thought that with Gu Shiyan’s powerful family background, he could put a stop to it. He hadn’t expected even Gu Shiyan to be powerless.

“We’ll just do our part. Whatever happens will happen.” Gu Shiyan set his phone down, but was already dialing the number Luo Xing had just sent him. “Wait here a minute.”

“What’s he up to?” Qi Changbai was sure Gu Shiyan wouldn’t just let it go, but couldn’t figure out why he wanted to contact Yao Xiangming at this moment.

Luo Xing remembered seeing Yao Xiangming at the airport before—he was here, too.

In the days that followed,

Gu Shiyan stayed in the lab with them, focusing wholeheartedly on their work.

He never mentioned what Wen Fan had brought up that day again.

Whenever Xu Yan asked, Gu Shiyan simply said to work seriously.

No one knew exactly why, but because of Gu Shiyan’s words, they truly stopped worrying about it.

During this time, Professor Wen came by once to ask for their opinions. All five chose to stay.

The day before the competition, they heard Wen Fan lead a team out of the experimental base.

That meant only their team would be representing Xing University.

Even knowing what the result would be, Professor Wen still treated this competition with the same seriousness as ever.

On stage, the host spoke fluent American English: “For this competition, the organizers have invited two world-class physics experts. They will join the five judges here via live video to score the teams. The event will also be broadcast live worldwide…”

Backstage, the teams waiting to go onstage were abuzz at the sudden rule changes.

“Why are there suddenly more judges? And why global broadcast? That’s never been the case before.”

Xu Yuxiao’s teacher patted his shoulder. “Just do your best. Even if there are ten more judges, whoever deserves that gold prize will get it.”

Xu Yuxiao was stunned by the news.

His father had told him before bringing him here that the outcome of this competition was already decided—he would win the gold prize.

But he’d never mentioned that there would suddenly be two extra judges, and Xu Yuxiao had no idea who they were.

Could his father have arranged this to make absolutely certain nothing could go wrong?

After thinking it through, Xu Yuxiao could only come to this conclusion.

While some people were worried about unexpected changes, Xu Yuxiao became all the more arrogant.

He walked straight up to Gu Shiyan. “Old classmate, this is just the beginning for you, isn’t it? No matter the outcome, don’t get discouraged. I hope to see you at even bigger competitions in the future.”

Qi Changbai was disgusted. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Gu Shiyan slipped his hands into his pockets, smiling calmly. “Don’t worry, we’ll stand higher than you. It’s you I’m worried about—be careful you don’t fall.”

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Luo Xing’s smile was radiant. “Exactly, the higher you stand, the harder you fall. When you hit the ground, you might not even be able to peel yourself back up.”

Xu Yan clicked his tongue, playing along with Luo Xing. “That bad, huh?”

Xu Yuxiao sneered. “We’ll see who falls in the end.”

After watching Xu Yuxiao walk away, finally bested in words, the group grew anxious. “Those two bigwigs aren’t his father’s doing again, are they?”

Though they had the upper hand verbally, they still had no certainty about the outcome.

Gu Shiyan said, “Since the result is already set, let’s just take it easy. No need to feel tense.”

Luo Xing said optimistically, “It’s fine. We came here just to show our faces anyway. This is our first competition—we’ll just treat it as a spectacle. Honestly, I was nervous before, but now that I think about it, there’s nothing to be nervous about. It’s just like being in the lab.”

If they were pessimists, they would’ve given up long ago.

Everyone agreed this made sense, and their tension vanished.

“Let’s treat it as an experience,” Qi Changbai reassured himself.

With open hearts, they went on stage and presented their work to the judges.

Of the five judges, two were Chinese—a man and a woman. When they looked at Xing University’s project, their faces were utterly indifferent.

They were the first to present.

If not for knowing the outcome was already predetermined, those cold and stern expressions might have made them nervous. But now… it didn’t matter. Whatever will be, will be.

While the judges scored them, the two experts watching via video also gave their marks.

After several North American teams, Luo Xing noticed that the judges had the same attitude toward all teams as they did toward theirs.

Only when Xu Yuxiao’s team took the stage did the Chinese female judge exchange a glance with the male judge beside her. After some deliberation, they finally wrote down their scores.

“Now, our seven judges will submit their scores…”

The students left the stage.

Backstage, everyone grabbed their phones to share their anxiety with parents and friends.

Everyone waited. The other teams looked nervous, except for Xu Yuxiao, who was completely at ease.

Xu Yuxiao grinned openly at Gu Shiyan’s group.

As if mocking their overreaching ambition.