When Jing Shaoyu arrived at the room where the Mecha Association team was gathered, he was greeted by Wu Mian's hearty laughter.
"Shaoyu, you've really brought some fame to our Donghai City Mecha Association!"
A bit puzzled, Jing Shaoyu asked, "What do you mean?"
"Oh, right! I forgot to mention your scores in all the excitement," Wu Mian chuckled, somewhat embarrassed. "How about you take a guess? What were your scores for the first and second rounds?"
"Hehe, since you're making me guess, it must be something impressive," Jing Shaoyu replied with a grin. "Two hundred?"
"You little rascal, you're pretty confident, aren't you?" Wu Mian laughed. "Yes, exactly—two hundred! You've set a new record!"
Jing Shaoyu looked surprised. "Really? Just like that?"
"Not a record for score, but for time," Wu Mian explained. "Others have managed perfect scores in the first two rounds in previous competitions, but you're the only one to finish in under three-quarters of an hour!"
"Shaoyu, I'm guessing your record will hold for quite a few competitions, maybe decades!" added Yu Qian, who had been silently observing. "Today, all the mecha association veterans from the other cities were asking me where we found such a treasure. I told them you came to us, but they didn't believe me!"
Everyone in the room shared a hearty laugh. Yu Qian's words were true—Jing Shaoyu was, after all, a Donghai native who had approached the Mecha Association himself.
After some friendly chatter, Wu Mian got to the reason he'd called Jing Shaoyu down. The design competition organizers had announced a rule change. Starting from the third round, the format would shift from completing unfinished blueprints to correcting flawed designs. Each competitor would receive an identical package of a hundred flawed designs, ensuring all participants had the same level of difficulty.
In the allotted hour, contestants would earn points based on the number of corrected designs, with rankings determined by score to advance to the fourth round.
Although correcting designs was typically easier than completing them, the high volume of flawed designs required contestants to examine and fix multiple complex issues quickly. This format demanded intense focus and mental stamina, making it far more challenging than earlier rounds.
Though confident in his abilities, Jing Shaoyu couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed. Rules, after all, were only reliable when in one's control.
After leaving the Mecha Association's room, he returned to his suite, where the others were waiting to head to dinner. He barely had a chance to sit before the now-hungry Tang Wulin eagerly pushed him toward the door.
Once at the hotel restaurant, Tang Wulin wasted no time showing Tianhai City what Donghai's "Iron Stomach" was made of. Perhaps from all the blood loss earlier, he devoured enough food for thirty people, leaving the restaurant staff and other diners in shock.
Jing Shaoyu and the others quietly moved to a different table, partly to make room for Tang Wulin's towering plates, but also to avoid the attention. While Jing Shaoyu and Xie Xie didn't mind, Gu Yue and Xu Xiaoyan felt embarrassed.
After dinner, they retired early to their rooms to rest and prepare for the following day's events.
The night was deep and quiet, city lights glowing steadily until dawn.
Day 3 of the Tianhai Alliance Grand Tournament
As usual, Jing Shaoyu rose early for the design competition. Surprisingly, Xu Xiaoyan joined him this time. She had forgone her usual morning sleep to accompany him, leaving Jing Shaoyu curious.
"Xiaoyan, what made you decide to come with me today?" he asked as they walked toward the venue.
"Hehe, I just thought it'd be boring at the hotel," she said with a playful smile, though a sly glint in her eyes suggested another motive. She wasn't about to admit that she was keeping a close eye on Ye Xinglan. Yesterday, she'd noticed a certain look in Ye Xinglan's eyes when she saw Shaoyu and didn't want another situation like Gu Yue's to develop.
If Jing Shaoyu knew what she was thinking, he'd be thoroughly exasperated. Ye Xinglan's reaction was due to the influence of his Origin Spirit and had nothing to do with him personally. He'd never try to attract the attention of a proud, headstrong girl like her.
When they arrived at the third venue, the third round was about to begin.
The venue layout had been altered: instead of a large open hall, the space was now divided into thirty-two individual zones separated by one-meter-high partitions, creating a three-meter gap between each contestant.
Jing Shaoyu also noticed a group of elderly figures seated at the judges' table, including Donghai's own Yu Qian, who was seated at the center, signifying her seniority.
The distinguished members of the Tianhai Alliance Mecha Association, each normally known for their serious demeanor, were instead chatting and laughing openly. Their playful banter shattered many young contestants' idealized views of them.
Once the competition began, Jing Shaoyu took his seat, unsealed the package of designs, and began flipping through them. One, two, three, four… With each design he examined, he began drawing the attention of the judges.
"Sister Yu, that's your Donghai star, isn't it? He sure seems confident," commented Xu Ning, the head of the Tianhai Mecha Association's design branch, leaning toward Yu Qian.
"Haha, he's quite impressive. Smart, talented, and good-looking," added Su Yuanyuan, the design branch head from Linghai. "How about you let us take him to Linghai? We'll trade ten sets of Black-Grade Mecha materials!"
"Dream on!" Yu Qian scolded playfully, her tone firm. "Even a hundred Black-Grade mecha couldn't compare to his potential. No deal!"
"Some things never change," an elderly woman remarked with a smile. "Yu still protects her protégés like she did in her younger days."
"How do you think she made Donghai's design branch the best in the Tianhai Alliance?" chuckled another elder, teasing her.
The conversation soon drifted to stories from their younger days, with occasional glances back at Jing Shaoyu.
Meanwhile, he had spent around five minutes skimming through all the designs and had already solved most of them mentally. The remaining few required only a bit more thought.
Satisfied, he started working quickly, his pen moving with precision across each blueprint. Gradually, completed designs began to pile up beside him.
When he finally signaled the end of his round, precisely at the forty-five-minute mark, the proctor collected his designs with an almost numb expression, having grown accustomed to his incredible speed.
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