Chapter 29: Astonishing Memory

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Seeing how readily Qin Anyi agreed, Zhao Guoping could not protest further. He merely nodded and said, “Very well. Chapter 030 of the Knowledge Competition is speed memorization. It tests the participants’ memory and reading ability in a short period of time.” As he spoke, Zhao Guoping took a collection of competition questions from his desk and handed copies to Qin Anyi and Guo Qingyuan. “The purpose of the Knowledge Competition is to discover true geniuses, not simply students with outstanding grades. That’s why the questions are highly abstract. For example, the speed memorization round never uses a passage from a classic or a famous work, but instead consists of a random jumble of Chinese characters with no discernible pattern. Please turn to Chapter 030. You have five minutes to memorize it. Although I have reviewed every question in this collection and remember them all by heart, the speed memorization item is an exception. It is a truly chaotic sequence of characters, with no logical connection—even the words aren’t real words. Even if you force yourself to memorize a segment, it cannot become a permanent memory; after half an hour, most people forget it entirely.”

Chapter 030: Astonishing Memory

“Osford odd-even allocation, sweep three, Aka little cannon second generation…”

Qin Anyi turned to the page Zhao Guoping had indicated, his attention sharpening as required by Qilin. He didn’t dwell much on Qilin’s last remark, but once he focused completely, those random characters began to imprint themselves onto his mind, crystal clear. Though there was no connection between them, Qin Anyi approached the task with a rigid, mechanical memorization method, breaking down each character, ignoring whether they formed meaningful words.

The five minutes passed quickly. At Zhao Guoping’s prompt, both closed their question collections almost simultaneously. Guo Qingyuan lifted his chin confidently and shot Qin Anyi a contemptuous glance. For this kind of disorderly speed memorization, anyone without specialized training would struggle to recall even a few dozen characters, let alone such a lengthy string. The record for previous competitions was only thirty-two or thirty-three characters memorized in five minutes. If a student could recite more than fifty, they were sure to excel in Chapter 030. Guo Qingyuan had participated many times, and already had some familiarity, so after five minutes he felt certain he could recite over fifty characters—an achievement even Wang Yiran couldn’t match. Beating Qin Anyi should pose no difficulty.

“Mr. Zhao, let me recite first. Qin Anyi lacks experience, and hearing my recitation may help reinforce his own memory,” Guo Qingyuan said politely.

Wang Yiran showed no reaction, but Shi Le snorted coldly. Reciting first was no advantage; in ordinary memorization, the last person to recite could reinforce their memory based on the previous recitation, but with this kind of random character string, the first person was actually favored. Since it was all forced memorization, no one could guarantee how much would be forgotten after a few seconds; moreover, listening to someone else's recitation might disrupt one’s own memory.

Guo Qingyuan ignored Shi Le’s snort and began to recite, stumbling and pausing frequently to think. Since any mistake would halt the process, his recitation was hesitant.

When it was Qin Anyi’s turn, he recited Chapter 030 fluently and with perfect accuracy, neither too fast nor too slow. As he continued, the teachers’ faces gradually changed from surprise to astonishment. Those seated near Zhao Guoping instinctively stared at the question collection in his hand. The quicker ones rushed back to their desks to pull out their own collections, turning to the same page Qin Anyi was reciting.

“Ahem, oh, that Ao, Xu, He, laugh, narrow, stack…”

Qin Anyi kept smiling as he recited, each unrelated character tumbling from his lips. The teachers’ expressions shifted from surprise to utter shock.

How many has he recited now? Forty-two, forty-three… and still going!

Guo Qingyuan’s face turned pale. At first, he was brimming with confidence, certain Qin Anyi wouldn’t exceed fifty characters. Yet he was stunned to see Qin Anyi perform at such an extraordinary level—this couldn’t be right, there had to be some problem!

Wang Yiran, on the other hand, smiled with satisfaction. She had been correct: this was a true genius. His brain development far surpassed ordinary people.

Shi Le frowned, watching Qin Anyi recite each character, deep in thought…