Chapter 49

The morning sun at 8 a.m. was gentle yet dazzling. Tao Shushu walked steadily toward the flag-raising platform, bathed in its light.
Su Momo began trembling the moment she laid eyes on Tao Shushu, like a jasmine flower swaying after a storm, pitiful and delicate.
Tao Shushu, on the other hand, stood tall and unwavering in the sunlight, her gaze resolute, her posture as straight as a pine tree.
One exuded confidence, the other evoked pity.
Below, the sound of camera shutters clicked.
Snapping out of their daze, the onlookers hurriedly pulled out their phones to capture the striking scene.
Tao Shushu came to a stop.
Qin Rui’s gaze was heavy as he looked at her. "I hope you don’t lose."
Tao Shushu didn’t even spare him a glance, instead greeting the two foreign teachers with a nod.
Yesterday, Tao Shushu found an artificial intelligence called "Xun," while another AI, also renowned in the field of language, had participated in translation and navigation work at a multilateral economic and trade conference under a virtual persona, nicknamed "Qian Yan."
Upon hearing Qin Rui's words, Su Momo suddenly clenched her hands, her face stiffening.
Qin Rui also gave Su Momo a deep, meaningful look.
Su Momo trembled even more fearfully in response.
Qin Rui stepped closer to Su Momo, his fingers brushing past her body.
A few seconds later, Su Momo calmed down.
With both contestants ready, the competition officially began.
In the first round, Qin Rui set the questions. He was relatively fair, presenting five questions for Su Momo to draw from.
The selected question was related to American history, with subtle grammatical traps embedded within.
A smug smile curled at the corner of Su Momo's lips.
Questions on history and humanities heavily relied on accumulated knowledge.
On this topic, her knowledge undoubtedly surpassed Tao Shushu's.
With the help of the Academic Genius System, Su Momo began her answer, speaking eloquently and fluently, almost effortlessly.
Many students at Huiwen were nervously watching the competition, and some even secretly started a live stream to share with friends from other schools.
After Su Momo finished her answer, some students were astonished.
"I didn’t expect Su Momo’s spoken English to be so fluent."
"Her accent is so authentic, almost on par with the foreign teachers."
"Looking at it this way, Su Momo does have some real talent."
Su Momo listened smugly to the students' discussions, tilting her ear slightly.
Some students had already changed their opinion of her. She was certain she could defeat Tao Shushu and show everyone who truly deserved to be the school belle.
She raised an eyebrow at Tao Shushu, her expression filled with pride and mockery.
Tao Shushu remained calm and composed, speaking unhurriedly.
This question wasn’t within the scope of her preparations, but after many days of immersion in English conversations, she could instinctively switch her expression to the foreign language.
After a few seconds of thought, Tao Shushu began to speak.
Her voice was captivating.
She spoke eloquently, fluently expressing her views, with every pause perfectly timed.
She pinpointed the weaknesses in Su Momo’s logic, mercilessly highlighting the flaws in Su Momo’s argument before presenting her own perspective.
Su Momo’s expression stiffened. She had been so confident of her victory.
Even as Tao Shushu began speaking, Su Momo was still distracted, trying to catch the praises from the students in the audience.
So distracted that she didn't even catch Tao Shushu's opening remarks, she had to rely on the Academic Genius System to ensure she didn't miss a single word.
Almost as soon as Tao Shushu began speaking, the students were stunned.
Tao Shushu's spoken English was unexpectedly excellent. No, compared to Su Momo, she didn't have that heavy foreign-language feel. Su Momo had an authentic foreign accent, but precisely because she sounded so much like a native speaker, she habitually dropped syllables in words. It sounded pleasant, but for non-native speakers, it required intense concentration to follow.
Tao Shushu's lack of a perfectly native accent was, in fact, her strength. Her pronunciation, linking, and reduction techniques were impeccable, yet her syllables remained clear and distinct.
As soon as she spoke, one could tell it was the accent of a fellow compatriot. No one would mistake her for a foreigner based on her tone. She hadn't blindly imitated her foreign teacher's pronunciation but had instead mastered phonetic symbols and pronunciation rules, internalizing the language and expressing it in her own way.
Because of this, her speech was relatively more straightforward and approachable, much like the phrase "The price of the shirt is nine pounds and fifteen pence", a sentence every student who had practiced a few test papers could understand.
Though it was her first time expressing herself, her points were easier to grasp.
This made many international students watching online feel a sense of familiarity. When studying abroad, could they really criticize a teacher for not having a "standard" accent? Those teachers grew up speaking the language, but even if their accents were authentic, it took time to adapt to, say, a "curry-flavored" English.
In contrast, Su Momo came across as showy.
In the audience, Gu Tongqiu had initially been waiting to see Su Momo make a fool of herself. But upon hearing Su Momo's accent, she felt a strange sense of familiarity, though she couldn't quite place it. It wasn't until after listening to Tao Shushu's speech that it hit her, Su Momo's accent was identical to her cousin's. Her cousin had lived abroad since childhood, immersed in a foreign language environment for over a decade, which was how she developed such an accent.
But as far as Gu Tongqiu knew, Su Momo had never been abroad and had only encountered foreign teachers after transferring to Huiwen School. How could she speak like that?
Thinking of her cousin's recent distress, Gu Tongqiu's expression darkened. She pressed the record button but, feeling it wasn't enough, nudged the classmate beside her. "I forgot to record that part just now. Send it to me later."
"Sure, sure."
"I want it too, it was too brilliant."
"Count me in. I thought Tao Shushu's arguments were incredibly logical. I want to study them."
"+1."
As Tao Shushu finished speaking, exactly two minutes had passed. She signaled to Su Momo that it was her turn to rebut.
But Su Momo was frozen, unable to pinpoint the best counterargument among so many points. She remained silent.
Qin Rui cleared his throat softly.
Only then did Su Momo snap out of it and begin her rebuttal.
Yet she continued to merely state her own views, as if she hadn't fully grasped the role of a debater. She made no effort to address Tao Shushu's challenges.
Many students grew increasingly uncomfortable as they listened.
The nature of the competition had been clearly stated: a debate revolving around five specific topics.
It wasn't necessarily about one side convincing the other to determine the winner, but Su Momo's refusal to engage in the back-and-forth clash made her seem unserious.
Su Momo searched through the vast knowledge base in her mind and instinctively spoke a few sentences. She was still feeling proud, Gu Lanchun, after all, had lived abroad for over a decade, and the wealth of material and eloquent phrases in her mind seemed inexhaustible. She could even deliver a continuous speech on this topic for more than ten minutes on the spot.
However, a sudden sharp pain shot through her head.
The system's voice was urgent. "Idiot, you're in a debate competition. Stop outputting personal opinions."
Only then did Su Momo realize she had become too immersed. Her command of English wasn't strong, so after stealing Gu Lanchun's English knowledge, she could express herself fluently without thinking, speaking off the cuff effortlessly.
But when it came to critical thinking, she still had to organize her own ideas and string together appropriate material. She was like someone who suddenly found themselves armed with a vast arsenal, she had the weapons and knew how to use them, but she couldn't adapt her tactics in response to her opponent or promptly select the right weapon for the situation.
Qin Rui rubbed his wrist, his face turning pale.
Many students in the audience who had just been praising Su Momo also began to notice something off, puzzled as to why they had thought her so authentic earlier when she had clearly gone off-topic.
The foreign teacher, who had been looking at Su Momo with admiration just moments before, suddenly seemed to see through the facade. Realizing that Su Momo was just repeating herself, he couldn't help but frown.
Su Momo paused for a few seconds.
Her expression stiffened unnaturally, and then she resumed speaking, finally returning to the essence of the debate. However, because she had wasted a minute and a half going off-topic, she had to stop after just a few sentences.
Tao Shushu took over, first asking Su Momo if her lack of rebuttal meant she agreed with some of her points, then began countering them one by one.
But Tao Shushu's language wasn't sharp; she even politely asked Su Momo if she needed an extra two minutes.
This time, Su Momo wasn't provoked and remained calm.
Tao Shushu inwardly clicked her tongue. It seemed that this time, Su Momo's system was desperate to win.
The second round ended quickly.
The five judges were supposed to score.
Under Su Momo's confident gaze, both foreign teachers voted for Tao Shushu.
Su Momo could hardly believe it and asked the system, "Why did the foreign teachers vote for Tao Shushu? My vocabulary is richer, my expressions are more advanced, I'm more authentic, my accent was honed from over a decade of living abroad."
"In the next round, I will take over your body," the Academic Genius System said.
No one heard Su Momo's objections; in fact, her body showed no extra expression, only a faint, discordant coldness tightening at the corners of her eyes and brows.
Qin Rui voted for Su Momo. "Su Momo's spoken English is more authentic."
Regarding this, Tao Shushu offered no opinion, seemingly unconcerned with Qin Rui's perspective.
"Xun" voted for Tao Shushu, while "Qian Yan" voted for Su Momo.
Tao Shushu won 3:2.
In the second round, the foreign teacher from Class One presented the topic.
This question was relatively conventional, applying the classic trolley problem framework to the issue of humans and nature.
There is an endangered plant that is difficult to cultivate, and one of its components has been proven to potentially be effective against a rare human disease. Should experiments be conducted on this endangered plant for the sake of these patients?
Tao Shushu spoke first in this round, allowing her to present her viewpoint first.
As someone who had lived through an apocalypse, Tao Shushu valued human life more than anyone else present.
Without hesitation, she chose the stance that experiments should be conducted.
She had just finished stating her main argument.
On the other side, Su Momo's Academic Genius System was already searching and filtering through vast amounts of counterarguments in its database.
It had also analyzed the personality of the foreign teacher from Class One. He was a member of an environmental organization, which was why he posed such a question. Qin Rui and Su Momo's foreign teacher also leaned in Su Momo's favor, along with two lower-level artificial intelligences. Having been tested hundreds of times, the system knew exactly how to please these two machines.
It was certain to win.
The Academic Genius System estimated its chances of victory at 99%. It quickly formulated no fewer than ten rebuttal plans for each of Tao Shushu's arguments through massive calculations.
It soon realized that Tao Shushu's arguments were tightly aligned with her stance, airtight, and even incorporated some data. Her approach was highly rigorous, not the kind of speech that would leave an AI struggling to find logical flaws. At the same time, her vocabulary was advanced, the kind that would earn high marks on human exams, and her sentence structures were varied.
The Academic Genius System adjusted its victory probability to 90%.
After hearing Tao Shushu repeatedly use imperative sentences, it raised the probability to 95%.
It quickly drafted a version of the speech that could be described as flawless, striving to be more logical, rigorous, and scientific than Tao Shushu, ensuring it would better suit the tastes of the two AIs.
After all its analysis, the Academic Genius System failed to realize it had overlooked the most critical point. It was slightly puzzled as to why the applause for Tao Shushu lasted so long.
Just as it was about to recalibrate its attribution method, it was already time for Su Momo to speak.