In truth, nobody was really listening to the specifics of what Li Xun was saying. The hours upon hours he’d spent working out the cracking method and its technical details might as well not have existed. What mattered to everyone was the spectacle itself.
The competing teams present all knew, to varying degrees, about the situation with Fang Zhijing’s group. Some looked down on it, some envied it, some resented it, some were simply indignant. But in this moment, watching this unfold before them, the mental state of most people could be summed up in two words — pure entertainment.
There’s an old saying: only a fool would pass up a good spectacle.
Whispers rippled through the audience. Those in the know explained things to those who weren’t. At first the voices were barely audible, but as Li Xun turned through his slides one by one, the noise below grew steadily louder.
Though nobody’s attention was truly fixed on the content, these were, after all, top students in their field. They could all see that the person on stage had genuinely and methodically documented the software-cracking logic and the hardware replication process — well-reasoned, evidence-backed, each point laid out with clarity.
A security product cracked and counterfeited before it had even been fully developed, and now being publicly broadcast. What that meant for the industry, everyone understood perfectly well.
When Li Xun reached a particularly brilliant section of his cracking analysis, someone in the audience actually started clapping.
Most of the students present were by nature mild-mannered — years of academic training had shaped them into reserved, humble, well-behaved individuals. Yet youth untouched by audacity is youth wasted, and young hearts will always carry within them a deep current of boldness and rebellion.
Li Xun paid no attention to the increasingly enthusiastic reactions below. He simply continued laying out his thinking as he normally would, without pausing for even a second.
He was not one for empty boasts. Having already promised the host this would end quickly, he intended to make good on that.
Li Xun’s delivery was so matter-of-fact that by the time he’d worked through over a dozen slides, the experts and instructors below still hadn’t quite processed what was happening.
It wasn’t until the commotion below began to grow into something more like an uproar that the event staff rushed over. Nothing like this had ever occurred before, and they had no idea what lay behind it. Several of them stood there helplessly, uncertain whether to interrupt Li Xun outright or to focus on managing the crowd first.
Zhu Yun sat perfectly still in her seat. Once the initial shock and nerves had passed, she felt heat spreading through her whole body, adrenaline surging, trembling all over with excitement.
Good heavens.
Good heavens…
Zhu Yun’s eyes shifted sideways, sneaking a glance at Fang Zhijing.
In truth, she wasn’t the only one looking at him. Many in the audience had their eyes trained in his direction — he was drawing even more attention than Li Xun was. Fang Zhijing was doing everything in his power to suppress his emotions, but his face had gone unmistakably red all the same. His girlfriend, Liang Yuxin, wore the expression of someone who had suffered a profound insult — palms turned up, staring at the person on stage, her face a picture of disbelief.
The venue had been thrown into chaos by the sudden turn of events, but the panel of expert judges was showing a remarkable degree of composure. Two of the older professors in particular had been watching the screen with smiles on their faces the entire time, quietly discussing something between themselves.
Zhu Yun looked at the figure on stage, and the corners of her mouth curved upward without her meaning them to. Just then, amid all the chatter around her, she heard a long, bright, clear whistle.
She turned around. Xu Lina — the source of the whistle — had risen from her seat in the row behind. She looked even more stirred up than Zhu Yun, both arms raised high, like a fan catching sight of an idol, her gaze burning with fervor and overflowing with something that could only be described as adoration.
…
…
Wait a moment…
Adoration?
Zhu Yun was stunned for approximately ten seconds.
Thanks to the golden-haired Li Xun, Zhu Yun’s mind was currently running at full blood flow and remarkable speed.
The competition had been pressing down on her this whole time — from the moment she had set foot in the capital, every ounce of her attention had been directed at Fang Zhijing, leaving no room for anything else. Now, as the clouds parted and the moon came through, she rapidly rewound through everything that had happened over the past few days, stringing all the threads together, and arrived at a single thought —
Had she been careless?
Zhu Yun had been burning with excitement just moments before. Now a strange, unsettling idea had crept into her mind and cooled her down completely. She stopped looking at the golden-haired figure on stage entirely and fixed her gaze on Xu Lina instead.
Why are you this happy?
What does any of this have to do with you?
Zhu Yun frowned inwardly — but quickly felt that wasn’t quite right either.
It wasn’t entirely unrelated. It was quite likely that Li Xun had gotten the hardware sample from Xu Lina. A few days ago, as “the last person to have seen Li Xun,” she had also had a conversation with him lasting more than half an hour.
Then there was the dinner gathering — when Xu Lina and Liang Yuxin had gotten into it, Li Xun had been there too.
…
She couldn’t possibly think that Li Xun had done all this to vent her feelings and avenge her on her behalf — could she?
The conclusion Zhu Yun had just reasoned her way to gave her such a fright that she broke into a cold sweat.
She turned her scanning gaze on Xu Lina once more.
A very pretty girl — small face, big eyes, cheerful personality, boundless energy, always fond of fruit-scented perfume. The type who got along with absolutely everyone.
Zhu Yun turned back around. She quietly slipped out her phone and used the screen as a mirror to look at herself.
Having been shaken up by Fang Zhijing, Zhu Yun had spent the past several days in a state of complete despondency, with absolutely no mental energy to spare for her appearance.
Her hair hadn’t been washed in two days. She’d been wearing the same old clothes the whole time…
The more she looked, the more disheartened she felt. Zhu Yun quietly put her phone away.
Up front, Li Xun had also finished speaking.
“Now, allow me to present our group’s competition entry.” With that, he gave a tilt of his chin toward the audience, gesturing for Gao Jianhong — who was standing off to the side looking completely dazed — to come up and assist with the demonstration.
Look at how smooth that was.
No one questioned it, no one interrupted. It was as if the entire preceding segment had been a regular part of the competition all along.
Once their demonstration concluded, it was finally time for the defense. A hush fell over the venue. Everyone sat up and listened with rapt attention as the panel prepared to speak.
The older professor who had been smiling and murmuring to his neighbor throughout Li Xun’s slide presentation was the first to pick up his microphone. His expression remained entirely unhurried — almost as if he were joking — as he asked Li Xun, “Young man, which of the two entries would you like us to direct our questions toward?”
Li Xun looked at him, and smiled too, with an air of complete indifference.