After more than ten years of formal math exam training, she had developed a habitual way of thinking when faced with these basic problems. In other words, she had mastered more advanced tools, but when it came to solving problems with simpler elementary school formulas, she might not even be as capable as Little David Carter.

She began to try thinking on a lower level, working through the problems very slowly. After seven or eight minutes, she had only completed three questions.

At this moment, the math competition teacher, who had been pacing around the classroom, spoke up: “Be more focused and meticulous with your work. The selection test for the summer camp is next week. Getting into the summer camp means you’re one step closer to the Little Smith Group math team championship!”

David Carter felt that this “one step” was a bit of a stretch.

Little Smith Group refers to grades five and six in elementary school. There are over a hundred thousand fifth and sixth graders in the whole city, but only five can actually represent Anning in the competition.

Before that, there are multiple rounds of selection.

Each school selects ten students to participate in the “summer camp selection test.” There are only fifty spots in the summer camp, and through elimination, only five remain to represent Anning City in the provincial competition, where the city is the competing unit.

The total team score is the sum of the five members’ scores.

But right now, they hadn’t even passed the school-level selection, and the teacher was already envisioning a provincial championship for them. That was painting too big a picture. What’s more, Anning’s level of math education wasn’t actually that strong—it didn’t even rank in the province. Suddenly aiming for the championship?

Thinking of this, the teacher automatically explained to them: “Let me put it this way, the neighboring school has an absolute genius elementary student who really boosts the total score. This time, Anning is determined to win first place in the Jin Cup team competition.”

As she spoke, she happened to walk past David Carter, whose heart skipped a beat as she silently recited that name.

“Who is it, teacher?” someone asked.

“Andrew Cooper, some of you probably know him.”

David Carter’s pen paused, and she suddenly looked up at the math competition teacher talking with the students.

Sure enough, some students below responded with “Oh, oh, oh,” and “He’s super impressive”...

David Carter felt a bit unsettled.

If there wasn’t much difference between these two worlds, and if her memory wasn’t wrong, then in September this year, Henry Clark would win the individual championship of the entire competition.

And Andrew Cooper?

David Carter remembered Andrew Cooper—he could definitely be called smart, but to say he outshone Henry Clark, how was that possible?

Her mind was a mess with all sorts of thoughts, until the teacher’s “stick after the sweet date” snapped her back to reality: “Every in-class quiz counts toward the total score. Don’t think each of you will get to go to the neighboring school for the selection test—only ten of you will get a spot.”

The “neighboring school” referred to the Experimental Primary School across the street. David Carter tapped her head with her pencil, thinking about how much Little David Carter cared about this Jin Cup competition, how determined she was to get into the summer camp. No one knew better than her.

Before, Little David Carter studied hard and was smart. She always did well on in-class quizzes, had a high total score, and had a good chance of representing the school in the Jin Cup summer camp selection at the Experimental Primary School. The director-mom had always been proud, and even many kids at the orphanage knew about it and looked up to her as a role model.

But now...

David Carter glanced at Little Classmate Foster’s paper, who had already finished five questions, then looked at her own.

She gripped her pen tightly, cleared her mind, sighed, and stopped thinking about Henry Clark. She had already skipped school and upset him; this time, she really didn’t want to see the director-mom’s disappointed look again.

Chapter 11: Infinity

As soon as fifteen minutes were up, the teacher immediately called time and had everyone swap papers with the four students in front and behind them to grade each other’s work and discuss the problems. Since everyone was a competitor, there was no fear of cheating among classmates.

David Carter’s paper was handed to a girl sitting behind her to the left.

“You actually solved the bonus question?”

Little Classmate Foster must have seen it when they swapped papers earlier and was shocked. Just because of the bonus question, her tone had become much more polite.

David Carter broke out in a cold sweat inside, but on the surface, she had to keep a straight face and say, “Yes, I thought it was pretty easy.”

Brian Foster was now looking at her with admiration.

Mr. Thompson began explaining the problems and announcing the answers at the podium.

David Carter took the opportunity to flip forward in her math competition book and review earlier sections.

Some of the content existed in Little David Carter’s memory, but she hadn’t fully understood or mastered it yet, so it was basically wasted.

“The answer to the fourth application problem is 40. The key to this problem is the formula we mentioned before. Class, I’ve said it many times—what comes first when solving problems?”

“Form~u~la~”

The kids below answered in a drawn-out tone.

David Carter habitually looked back to check her answer, then froze.

She pointed to the red X on her paper and said to the little girl sitting behind her, “Hey, my answer is clearly correct.”

“But you didn’t write the solution process.” The little girl behind her pushed up her glasses and added, “You didn’t even write the word ‘solution.’”

David Carter was at a loss for words.

The reason she didn’t write the solution process wasn’t because she was afraid her advanced methods would scare the other kids, but simply because she wrote with her left hand and was too slow. She was worried she wouldn’t finish the test, so she did all the calculations in her head and just wrote the final answer.

She hadn’t expected to run into such a stickler of a “little teacher.”