Miss Alison looked up at Austin, casually brushing away her initial thoughts.
"I'm sorry, what did you say again?" Miss Alison asked, slowly coming back to reality.
Mr. Austin gave her a complex look before finally pointing at the screen
. Miss Alison turned her gaze to the screen casually—only to freeze in shock at what she saw.
Although Derek had risen in the rankings, he was still only around 85th position on the board. Miss Alison began carefully
scrutinizing the board for stats. She could see that Derek's momentum was increasing, while that of the other candidates was clearly reducing—indicating that Derek had a high potential of making it through.
But that was exactly the problem. Derek's momentum was indeed increasing, but the momentum of the top 70 candidates was still very solid.
Although theirs decreased a little, the top ten had maintained a fairly consistent and high level of momentum. In fact, Thompson's own stats were gradually increasing.
Yet there was still one more issue—one that tugged heavily at her chest. Her daughter's name wasn't on that list. Even after scrolling through the first 1,000 names, she still
couldn't find her. She eventually just stopped looking. She had no more courage left to continue searching.
Only Miss Alison and her late husband knew the truth about her daughter's actual rank. She was never a B-ranked student—she was a C-rank.
Although that sounded close in theory, in reality, it was a very wide gap. B-ranked and C-ranked students were extremely different.
It was like comparing a student who had mastered the basic skill of memorization to another who understood complex concepts at a deeper level—without needing excessive cramming.
Miss Alison knew this too well—far too well. But based on her life experiences, she couldn't bear to see her daughter face such a painful truth.
Lucy was a knowledge enthusiast; she loved reading and doing research in her spare time.
Miss Alison couldn't bear to see her crushed or depressed once she discovered the truth. So, she created an illusion.
She made her believe she was actually a B-ranked student, even though she was truly a C-ranked one. She just didn't want her to feel too low or discouraged
And her plan had worked—at least for a while. Lucy remained active in her
schoolwork and continued her personal research. But maybe Miss Alison had been too supportive. Lucy kept on pushing and pestering to participate in a competition, believing in herself completely.
Miss Alison had been skeptical at first. But after Lucy's constant urging and persistent demands, she finally gave in.
She had started to believe that maybe, just maybe, all of Lucy's hard work had actually improved her ranking.
But maybe she was wrong. Just maybe she shouldn't have pushed her that far.
Maybe she had overdone things without realizing it.
Miss Alison stood still, staring silently at the tiled floor of the hall.
After all, Lucy was still going to find out the truth by the end of the competition.
---
Derek stood for a moment before gradually turning to face the glowing holographic screen.
Since it was finally Derek's turn, the screen came alive with the final scores:
Level 10
Zone 4 Completed
50 Points Achieved – Perfect Score
You may now proceed to the next level
Derek clicked the green button immediately. He knew he was running out of time and couldn't afford to waste a single second on anything unimportant.
As soon as he pressed the button, a new room began to materialize before him. It appeared pure white and gave off the strange illusion of having no end at all.
It was vast, seemingly boundless, with no door in sight. The room was lined with countless mirrors, reflecting endlessly. Derek couldn't see the far end of the room, nor could he see the end of the mirror reflections.
Then, suddenly, the holographic screen lit up again:
Each mirror contains a mathematical equation. You need to find the three equations that are correct before your time runs out.
Derek was completely shocked by what he saw. This couldn't be real. It seemed almost impossible to accomplish such a task in an endless room like this.
Everything is not what it seems.
Derek glanced up at the time. He had exactly 360 seconds left. He was still in a daze, unsure of what to do next.
This seemed completely impossible. But then Derek remembered what the holographic screen had said—everything is not what it seems.
That had to be the clue.
"I've just cracked the code," Derek whispered, a brilliant smile forming across his lips. He began walking vertically across the room, searching for any pattern that might exist.
After several seconds of walking, he discovered something important—at the 50th mirror. So, 50 mirrors made up a complete vertical sequence.
Derek immediately changed his direction by 90 degrees.
He continued walking, mentally marking each equation as he passed. And once again, he reached the 50th mirror.
Derek paused, gazing ahead as far as his eyes could reach. This wasn't a vast room at all. It was actually an endless loop of repeating mirror patterns.
With that realization, Derek carved out the fifty-by-fifty mirror section and began memorizing each and every equation on them in his head.
But now a new challenge presented itself. Yes, he had finally mastered the 50x50 mirror loop, but if it was a loop, wouldn't that make it endless? How would he find the correct three equations in time?
Derek stood still, pondering the solution. Then suddenly, it clicked. It was indeed a loop—a repeating loop of patterns.
Perhaps they repeated at specific intervals that preserved the structure of the room.
With this in mind, Derek charged through each fifty-by-fifty mirror block, scanning each one for a potential mistake.
He kept this up for about a minute, moving quickly and steadily, before finally finding something in the third mirror maze.
Derek finally stopped, catching his breath. He walked up to the mirror to inspect it more closely. This mirror looked a bit older and rustier than the rest—confirming his suspicion.
Upon closer examination of the equation inside the mirror, Derek re-read it in disbelief.
9 × 9 = 72
That was obviously incorrect. Derek was puzzled now. Was he supposed to be looking for the right equations—or the ones that didn't fit?
He closed his eyes, trying to process everything from the beginning. Then he opened them and casually glanced up at the holographic screen.
30 seconds left.
T