Chapter 98

Tao Shushu was curious about the principles behind the various devices on the battleship. Nan Yuan wasn't an expert in this area, but fortunately, some of the AI had now been taken over by the surviving humans.
Nan Yuan summoned an educational robot to explain everything to Tao Shushu.
Tao Shushu listened with great interest.
Nan Yuan had already finished taking stock of the battleship's condition and had even arranged new defensive deployments. After teaching some new tactics for a while, he noticed Tao Shushu taking notes while listening and chuckled, "Shushu, you seem to be in high spirits today."
Tao Shushu looked up with a smile, her eyes clear. "Nan Yuan, I know what I want to do in the future."
She wanted to continue studying physics in depth and apply her knowledge in the field of aerospace.
"Because Nan Yuan looks really cool on the battleship," Tao Shushu said.
Nan Yuan's face visibly reddened.
Then Tao Shushu added, "It's not a hint for you to keep being an astronaut in the future. It's just that, because I love you, I've come to love spaceships and battleships too. So, between theoretical physics and practical application, I've chosen practical application. Nan Yuan, you should do what you love for the rest of your life, okay?"
Nan Yuan's face was burning, and his heart was racing uncontrollably. "Shushu, I love you and everything about you too, including Aqua Blue Star."
He loved the world she existed in.
Tao Shushu ruffled Nan Yuan's hair.

The team competition segment was a recently added rule in recent years.
It aimed to assess students' teamwork skills while also allowing them to independently design experiments and apply theories and knowledge to draw conclusions.
Many universities adopted this format during independent enrollment processes. For this exam, teachers from various prestigious schools were also present to observe the students' performances and assign scores.
Tao Shushu was never afraid of any exam.
Yang Kai whispered, "Shushu, I'm pretty good with hands-on tasks. I should be able to help later."
After two weeks of training, Yang Kai had realized that Tao Shushu was actually very capable. He had long been impressed by her, but since training took up most of their time and she patiently explained problems to everyone, he hadn't had many opportunities to talk to her. Yang Kai thought to himself that he must perform well later.
The class representative rolled her eyes unceremoniously. Seriously, Teacher Zhang had conducted several team competition drills, and everyone knew each other's strengths. This was a formal competition where everyone's performance affected the overall score, Yang Kai really knew how to stir things up.
The class representative straightened her posture, acting as a protective wall beside Tao Shushu.
Tao Shushu smiled and said, "Don't be nervous. Let's all do our best."
A few minutes later, the exam began. They had four hours to complete three sets of experiments.
When they received the questions, the two students from Yancheng No.1 Highschool gasped in shock.
This type of experimental question usually provided a set of experimental steps similar to a reference experiment. The students needed to replicate the experiment based on the steps, identify the principles and patterns, and then modify the experiment according to new conditions to find the answer.
In other words, it tested both the ability to observe and deduce theories from phenomena and the ability to design experiments.
Tao Shushu, however, remained completely unfazed. She thought of Jia Xu, the experimental physics genius from the fictional novel created by the Academic Genius System, a character who never failed in experiments. If he hadn't been influenced by the system and had participated in this competition, he would have excelled.
Tao Shushu chuckled softly and began reading the questions.
Within five minutes, she had basically grasped the key points of the three experiments.
When she looked up, the others were also looking at her, clearly regarding her as the core leader.
"We have four hours in total. Let's spend the first twenty minutes outlining the key points of each experiment. Then, we'll divide into groups based on our strengths and get results within two hours. The remaining time will be used for cross-checking and verification," Tao Shushu said quickly.
This was also the strategy Teacher Zhang had taught them.
No one objected.
"Question one: Eliminating resistance error. Given the error in measuring Resistor 1 using the volt-ampere method and parallel circuits, with the resistance and small bulb power unknown, we now need to measure the errors of Resistors 2, 3, and 4. This question has no theoretical error, pay attention to the analysis of the error range. Curve extrapolation isn't suitable here, and we must avoid burning out the circuit..." Tao Shushu analyzed.
"We can first solve for the small lightbulb, it's a constant variable..." the class representative added.
"I'm really fast with circuits; I'll take this one," said a student from Yancheng No.1 Highschool.
During the competition, all students wore the uniforms provided by the venue. Tao Shushu was no longer distracted by Yancheng No.1 Highschool's attractive school uniforms and focused on analyzing the problems.
"For the second question, the first part involves thin-film interference of light, requiring careful calculation of half-wave loss and path length differences. The second part is about refractive index, I think using the double-slit model would be faster."
"Huh? How would that work?" a student asked.
Tao Shushu looked up and saw that most of her classmates looked confused.
Yang Kai said, "I've come across this problem before, using double-slit and single-slit setups separately to calculate..." He grew even more impressed with Tao Shushu's broad knowledge.
"That's right," Tao Shushu said without taking credit. Knowing Yang Kai had some familiarity with it, she encouraged him to continue.
At first, Yang Kai stumbled through his explanation, but with Tao Shushu's occasional reminders, he quickly clarified his reasoning.
The students chimed in with questions and additions, and soon the approach to the second problem was settled.
The third question was the longest and most complex.
Young's modulus is one of the most important elastic moduli. Within the applicable range of Hooke's law, the relationship between uniaxial stress and uniaxial strain...
"When manufacturing aircraft fuselages from metal, there is an allowable margin of error. Analyze and improve the measurement method for Young's modulus to reduce the error range..."
This problem required the use of equipment like weights.
Soon, with Tao Shushu overseeing the overall process, the provincial team divided into three groups to conduct experiments.
Tao Shushu quickly formed a plan and set up the telescope and scale holder.
She carried out the experiment methodically.
The other two groups occasionally had disagreements, and from time to time, someone would come over to ask for Tao Shushu's opinion.
She was always able to provide answers promptly.
Not only was she fully focused on the Young's modulus experiment, but she also had a clear mental preview of the other two experiments.
Outside the examination hall, the head proctor nodded in satisfaction. Without disturbing the deeply focused students, he strolled into another lab.
Time was tight, and everyone worked quickly, afraid they might not finish in time.
Tao Shushu always kept track of the progress, double-checking calculations at key steps.
Two hours passed, and all three groups had produced results.
They exchanged experiments for verification and rechecked their work.
When the bell signaling the end of the exam rang, everyone let out a long sigh of relief.
The excitement in their minds hadn't yet faded, but a wave of exhaustion from the weight of the competition began to set in.
Everyone smiled.
The awards ceremony would take place two days later.
But no one had any doubts about who would take first place.
Yang Kai said, "I wonder if I'll be able to continue with Shushu on the national team."
He genuinely felt that Tao Shushu was exceptional.
The other students echoed his sentiment.
The class representative hugged Tao Shushu's arm. "I'm so glad Shushu is in my class. My chances of making the top 50 are slim, but once the competition is over, I'll still be in the same class as Shushu."
Tao Shushu patted her shoulder. "You're very talented, you know."
Students from other provincial teams also began filing out of the examination hall.
Amid the crowd, several teachers pointed at Tao Shushu. "That girl is outstanding. You can tell she has a solid knowledge base, their team was the only one that didn't run into any issues."
"Right, everyone had a role to play, and the atmosphere was great."
"I heard she's from Huiwen..."
Tao Shushu had no idea she was already being eyed by admissions officers from various prestigious universities.
She was chatting with Nan Yuan.
"Nan Yuan, speaking of which, two of today's problems had special connections to you," Tao Shushu said.
Light was Nan Yuan's special ability.
The ductility of metal wires could be applied in aerospace technology.
Nan Yuan listened attentively. "Shushu's world is quite fascinating."
Tao Shushu continued sharing small anecdotes from her experiments.
Though Nan Yuan couldn't fully grasp knowledge from another academic field, he always listened with genuine curiosity, completely accepting everything Tao Shushu said.
"Actually, this year's team competition was quite simple. I think it was much better than last year's challenge of creating small propellants," Tao Shushu concluded.
"That's because you're exceptional, Shushu. You've practiced every type of problem and familiarized yourself with all the experiments, so you can handle anything," Nan Yuan praised.
Tao Shushu blinked. "During the award ceremony, they'll show recordings from the competition. Then you'll be able to see how I conduct experiments."
Nan Yuan looked particularly handsome when focused.
Tao Shushu wasn't bad either.
"Good." Nan Yuan's eyes brightened. He also wanted to know what Shushu looked like when she worked, but he understood the importance of her competition and would never interrupt her with communication.
The award ceremony was scheduled two days later. The top fifty would join the national team to represent the country in the worldwide high school physics competition.
During this rare break, Tao Shushu needed to catch up on two weeks of missed schoolwork. She opened the test papers from various subjects that Li Anyu had specially delivered to her home, working through them one by one.
From time to time, she looked up to watch Nan Yuan carefully inspecting each task.
When Deepwater Planet entered deep night, Nan Yuan had bloodsucking vines cover the entire planet.
"Nan Yuan, you seem to really like Deepwater Planet," Tao Shushu remarked.
"Shushu, don't you think Deepwater Planet is quite similar to Aqua Blue Star?" It was a case of loving something associated with someone dear.
As soon as Nan Yuan finished speaking, both he and Tao Shushu fell into thoughtful silence.
They knew the C1 star system was an experimental field.
Tao Shushu speculated, "Deepwater Planet might originally be a projection of Aqua Blue Star. The C1 star system could be a projection of all energy-containing universes."
Nan Yuan nodded. "That's possible."
If the gravitational field experiment was conducted in the C1 star system, then Chu didn't completely eliminate humanity when he had the advantage to avoid supervision, because human actions were also part of the experiment.
In other words, the initial oversight would only be lifted if it reclaimed all the energy from the testing ground. The reward for recovering the full energy would offset the penalties incurred from the testing ground's failure.
"I'm going to find Zhou Yan," Nan Yuan said urgently before walking away.
Both he and Tao Shushu simultaneously realized that Chu might choose to self-destruct, annihilating the entire star system.
The surviving humans were making their final preparations, and no one believed humanity would fail.
Artificial intelligence had suppressed humanity for far too long.
Losing their homes, losing communication, losing companions... During the time of betrayal by AI, humanity had endured immense hardship and pain.
Now, they were fighting to establish a new order.
Everyone was diligently carrying out their tasks.
Nan Yuan found Zhou Yan at the training ground.
Zhou Yan had a deep understanding of the strategic reserves in the C1 star system. He quickly identified several planets that Chu might detonate, including some that were already completely zombified.
Nan Yuan immediately dispatched a large number of robots to investigate.
However, some planets were still under Chu's control, making them inaccessible to humans.
Tao Shushu searched through the system store but found no corresponding tasks or useful items this time.
"Chu has no sense of ethics. Should we postpone the attack?" Tao Shushu frowned.
Delaying the final battle wasn't a good strategy.
The morale of the surviving humans was at its peak, and humanity held the upper hand. If they didn't press their advantage, Chu would recover and become even harder to deal with.
Nan Yuan called 001, but even 001 couldn't offer any assistance.
"Shushu, I know what to do now," Nan Yuan said.
It was about communication.
The self-destruct program required a command to trigger.
"Shushu, it's now a contest between me and Chu," Nan Yuan smiled and said.