Chapter 18: Full Marks! Is It Rigged?

On the host's stage.

The host occasionally switched between the computer screens of various contestants, watching everyone's operations, occasionally interacting with the audience for a while, or offering a few comments.

Of course, beside him were several phone stands used to view the bullet comments from major live-streaming platforms, in order to understand the feedback from netizens.

Therefore, he naturally also noticed the netizens' attention toward Su Xin.

At this moment, he saw some movement at the judges' table, so he picked up the microphone, turned his head, and asked:

"Respected judges, contestant number 18 submitted his results a while ago. Everyone is a bit curious: since he finished so quickly, what exactly is his score?"

The moment the host's question was spoken, a massive wave of mockery and abuse flooded the bullet comments.

"Forget about that kid; he's just a clown seeking attention."

"We don't care about his score. Ignoring him is the greatest respect we can show the competition."

"The Qianlong Cup Programming Competition represents the future of the Long Country software programming industry. This is a grand and sacred competition, not just for selecting a few geniuses; more importantly, it is to create an atmosphere, spark the interest of many teenagers in programming, and let the software industry surpass the West."

"Yet, on such a grand and sacred occasion, Su Xin only knows how to attract eyeballs and gain traffic with clown-like behavior."

"This is not just the sorrow of the traffic era, but the shame of the teenage generation."

"I suggest disqualifying Su Xin and banning him from participating in similar competitions for life, so as not to pollute everyone's sight."

Once these words were out.

A dense stream of bullet comments popped up below—

"Seconded!!"

"Seconded!!"

"Seconded!!"……

And just at this moment.

The head judge, Lv Huaiyuan, who was sitting in the middle of the judges' table, turned on the vertical microphone on the table, cleared his throat twice to test the sound, and began to speak:

"Hello everyone, I am the head judge, Lv Huaiyuan. Just now, I and four professors from different universities reviewed the work submitted by student Su Xin."

"To be honest, we are shocked."

"We find it truly hard to imagine that an eighteen-year-old high school student could have such a sharp eye, such extensive knowledge, and possess such top-tier programming skills in the software industry."

"To put it bluntly, student Su Xin's programming level is extremely high, and judging from the optimized new software he submitted, his level is even higher than that of the five judges sitting here."

"If we hadn't seen student Su Xin's profile with our own eyes, we probably wouldn't dare believe these came from the hands of an eighteen-year-old high school student; instead, it looks more like the work of a top expert who has been immersed in the software industry for decades."

Hearing the judge's words, the netizens were instantly bewildered.

"This... is the judge praising Su Xin?"

"Praising him for having an extremely high level, even higher than the five judges themselves—isn't that a bit exaggerated?"

Just as everyone was shocked, one netizen's words made everyone suddenly realize—

"This is clearly sarcasm!"

"Didn't you hear what the judge said? They can't imagine Su Xin having this level; the implication is that a high school student of this age group could never reach this level, and neither could Su Xin."

"Later, he said it didn't look like it came from a high school student's hands, but rather from a top expert. This statement makes it even more obvious—the software optimization was not done by Su Xin at all, but by someone else."

"In other words, his subtext is that the competition is rigged. Su Xin must have known the competition software in advance and asked a top expert for guidance, or perhaps a top expert did the optimization directly, and Su Xin just memorized the answers."

"This is sarcasm, a satire of the competition!"

"The judge knows this competition is rigged, but due to some powerful force, he doesn't dare to expose it directly, so he can only use this biting, sarcastic way to warn us—"

"Su Xin has backing, and his results are fake."

Seeing these comments, the netizens immediately felt that the judge's words indeed had hidden meanings, full of sarcasm between the lines. The expression of heartfelt admiration on his face seemed more like mockery of Su Xin and a silent protest against this unfair competition.

At this point, everyone was completely enraged.

Before, they only thought Su Xin was a clown who liked to chase traffic, and at most, people just found him unpleasant.

But now, the nature of the situation had completely changed.

Most people felt that Su Xin had backing and was wantonly manipulating the competition, and yet he still acted so ostentatiously before and during the match. This was simply a trampling of the competition and a contempt for all the spectators.

At this time, the head judge, Lv Huaiyuan, after having painstakingly praised Su Xin, began to announce Su Xin's score loudly:

"Time taken: 9 minutes and 58 seconds, 20 points."

"Found a total of 18 bugs, with precise descriptions and excellent solutions, 50 points."

"The optimization and improvement of the program are also very excellent, 50 points."

"In summary, contestant number 18, Su Xin, has a total score of 120 points—a perfect score!"

By the end, Lv Huaiyuan was full of passion, waiting for a warm reaction from the surroundings.

But after he finished speaking, he realized that the surroundings had fallen into an eerie silence.

Everyone wore an 'I knew it' expression, and many of them were filled with anger.

"What is going on?"

"Could it be that they are too shocked to speak for a moment?"

Lv Huaiyuan was momentarily confused.

He and the other four judges had not been watching the live stream, so naturally, they did not know about the netizens' negative evaluation of Su Xin, nor did they know that his excessive praise had caused the netizens to misunderstand that the competition was rigged.

At this moment, a spectator at the scene stood up and shouted loudly: "It's rigged! It's rigged!"

"What's rigged?"

Lv Huaiyuan and the other four judges looked at each other, all five of them full of confusion.

Seeing this, the host, although unsure if it was truly rigged, knew his duty was to control the scene, so he shouted loudly:

"Congratulations to contestant number 18, Su Xin, for obtaining 120 points!"

Normally, if someone achieved such a record-breaking perfect score, he would definitely have to praise them highly, but at a time like this, if he were to continue praising Su Xin's results, it would certainly enrage the audience even more.

Therefore, after announcing this score, he immediately changed the subject, also attempting to divert the audience's attention, saying:

"Since the results for contestant Su Xin are already out, let us now take a look at the performance of the other contestants. Come, everyone, please follow me and look at the big screen; this is the screen interface of the defending champion, Xie Wenbin..."

Unfortunately, his attempt to divert the audience's attention did not have the intended effect in the slightest.

In the spectator stands, more and more people stood up, waving their fists and shouting loudly:

"It's rigged! It's rigged!"

On the online platform, more and more people also replied with the three words "It's rigged," and eventually, almost all netizens tacitly replied with these three words, flooding the screen with a dense, uniform wall of comments.

Amidst the crowd, Su Xin's mother, Zhang Chunhua, looked anxious, not knowing what to do.

When she heard that Su Xin had obtained a perfect score of 120, she had initially been ecstatic, but immediately after hearing everyone say it was rigged, she was suddenly stunned.

She had been focused on Su Xin on the field just now, so she naturally was not aware of the various comments on the internet, and thus did not know where the claims of it being rigged came from.

But she understood that Su Xin definitely had not cheated; after all, their family did not have such a powerful background, and Su Xin had no need to cheat.

Not far away, Li Tongtian had indeed seen the various comments online, but like Zhang Chunhua, he also did not believe for a second that Su Xin had cheated.

After all, he was good friends with Su Xin and knew a thing or two about Su Xin's family circumstances, knowing that his friend's family was poor; even if this competition were truly rigged, the person cheating could absolutely not be Su Xin.