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Chapter 51: Chapter 48: A Free Old Grandpa

Jiangcheng Sixth Middle School, Talent Class.

Li Dong looked at Mendel’s message in the Cyan Dragon Study Group.

[Gregor John Mendel]: @StudyingForSeniorYear, Your Excellency, could you please elaborate on that three-line hybrid system theory you just mentioned?

This biology True God rarely spoke. After sending this message, he didn’t press Li Dong any further.

Li Dong pinched the bridge of his nose.

’As long as I can clearly explain the principle of interaction between the nuclear genes (R/r) and the cytoplasmic genes (S/N), it should be enough to give the expert some ideas.’

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to explain all the principles in detail. It was just that he had spent half a class period just to force himself to sort out a rough framework of the nucleo-cytoplasmic interaction model for ”Cytoplasmic Male Sterility (CMS)” that the teacher had explained. However, there were many underlying molecular mechanisms he hadn’t fully grasped yet.

Just as he was about to start typing, he suddenly felt the light beside him dim.

Li Dong subconsciously looked up.

He saw Elder Chen standing beside his desk with his hands behind his back, looking at him with a wide grin.

’Holy shit!’

Li Dong jumped in surprise.

”Tea... Teacher.”

He let out a dry laugh.

Seeing this, Elder Chen’s smile grew even more amiable. He gently waved his hand.

”Hey, you go on with what you were doing. I’m just looking.”

As he spoke, Elder Chen didn’t confiscate Li Dong’s phone. Instead, he picked up the sheet of scratch paper from Li Dong’s desk.

Even if Li Dong were a complete idiot, he wouldn’t actually listen to the teacher and ”keep playing.”

He could only sit in his seat, staring anxiously at Elder Chen.

At this moment, the other students in the classroom also noticed the commotion in the back row and turned to look.

Normally, no one would have the inclination to pay attention to others.

But this was a new transfer student!

The Talent Class operated on a cruel last-place elimination system. After every monthly exam and joint exam, the few students with the lowest ranks would be kicked back to the regular advanced classes, and top students from those lower classes would take their place.

Therefore, everyone was instinctively wary of any new face who ”parachuted” into the Talent Class.

Meanwhile, Elder Chen was holding Li Dong’s scratch paper, his brow furrowing deeper the more he read.

The first question: time for pure rolling, t = 2v₀ / (7μ_k * g), and final velocity, v = (5/7)v₀.

The answer was completely correct.

The second question: integrating the resistive torque over the circular contact patch to derive the expression for the total distance L.

This answer was also perfect.

The third question: the expression for the precessional angular velocity Ω, where Ω = (MaB) / (J*ω₀).

Also perfect.

The answers were all correct, and the free-body diagrams were well-drawn too.

But!

Elder Chen felt like something was missing.

He pushed up his glasses and looked it over carefully again, finally realizing what was wrong.

The calculation steps were missing!

Any part that involved complex calculations was completely gone!

For example, the first question involved a simple combination of momentum conservation equations. Students in the Talent Class could, at a stretch, skip the steps and write down the answer directly.

But what about the second question?

That one involved a double integral over the differential area element dS = rdrdφ on the circular contact patch to find the rolling friction torque on a non-rigid surface!

The process involved tedious trigonometric substitutions and definite integral calculations, yet on Li Dong’s scratch paper, there was only the initial integral expression, followed directly by the final result!

It was the same for the third question’s derivation from the angular momentum cross product; he jumped straight from the vector equation to the final scalar result.

The corner of Elder Chen’s eye twitched slightly.

This kid...

’Mental integration? And a double integral at that?’

’Was his brain really that sharp?’

Elder Chen put down the scratch paper, looked up at Li Dong, and his smile became even more brilliant.

”What’s your name?”

Elder Chen asked.

Although Elder Chen’s stare was making his hair stand on end, Li Dong answered honestly.

”Teacher, my name is Li Dong.”

”Li Dong...” Elder Chen muttered the name to himself a couple of times.

’It sounds a little familiar...’

”Oh! The one who ranked first in the province for the Huaxuan Cup semifinals!”

As soon as he said this, the once-quiet classroom suddenly erupted in a low buzz.

Of course the students of the Talent Class had heard of Li Dong!

After all, that final, desensitized engineering problem in the Huaxuan Cup semifinals had stumped quite a few people.

Zhao Ziv, from the Fortified Foundations Class next door, had crashed and burned on that very problem.

A few students in the Talent Class had been able to solve it too.

But even if they could, they wouldn’t dare claim they had done better than Li Dong.

Why?

Because on the list of students who advanced, the person ranked second, right behind Li Dong, was Qiao Fan!

The genius freshman from Rongcheng Seventh Middle School who was treasured like a gem, the one who could casually choose between the Math Olympiad and the Physics Olympiad!

At that moment, Elder Chen looked at Li Dong, growing more and more pleased.

”Mm, not bad. You did a great job on this problem.”

”Having you do a problem like this is underestimating you a bit.”

”Come with me after class. I’ll show you something more fun.”

Hearing the two words ”more fun,” the other students in the Talent Class all looked at Li Dong with eyes full of sympathy.

’He’s done for.’

Elder Chen’s ”fun” wasn’t about super-difficult problems; he wouldn’t give you something beyond your abilities, but...

That old geezer loved to give out brain teasers!

So, everyone was mourning inwardly: ’Another genius is about to be broken by Old Chen. His dao heart is about to shatter...’

But not only did Li Dong show no fear, his eyes lit up.

”Alright!”

’He had the Physical Perception buff, after all. If he couldn’t solve it, that would just mean the problem involved a chain of knowledge he was missing. And wasn’t this very impressive-looking teacher right here?’

’This was a free master in disguise!’

So Li Dong quickly said,

”Thank you, Teacher! Thank you, Teacher!”

This enthusiastic and sincere reaction left Elder Chen stunned.

’How many years has it been?’

’Every time he asked students to come to his office for ”fun problems,” didn’t the little rascals always have long faces?’

’But today... he had actually received such sincere thanks?’

This kid...

The look in Elder Chen’s eyes as he gazed at Li Dong became even more ”amiable.”

...

RING RING RING

The moment the dismissal bell rang, Li Dong eagerly trotted out of the classroom after Elder Chen.

The two had barely left before the classroom erupted.

Although the top students of the Talent Class didn’t usually gossip, the ”tea” today was just too good.

This was a beast who could outshine Qiao Fan of Rongcheng!

Just before class ended, everyone had seen Li Dong talking a bit with Migo, so a few boys ran up to Migo’s desk.

”Hey, Migo, how do you know that Li Dong guy?”

”His physics is so insane, how are his other subjects? Do you know the inside scoop?”

Surrounded by a few upperclassmen from the second and third years, Migo answered truthfully.

”Oh, he’s in my older sister’s class. As for his other subjects...”

”My sister says his Chinese and English are apparently just average, the kind that barely passes.”

”Average?”

Everyone exchanged glances, their expressions turning a bit strange.

You have to understand, you can’t get into the Talent Class with just one specialty! It demands ”hexagon warriors” with no weak subjects.

Because if these students who were gunning for competitions failed, their backup plan was the college entrance exam.

So what was the deal with this Li Dong getting into the Talent Class?

Of course, they didn’t know about the research fund that was tied to him.

...