Bianca's face turned completely green.
Isabella's expression was just as dark and ugly.
The two glared venomously at Serena, who was already writing equations on the board.
They watched the massive crowd of people sitting attentively in front of the whiteboard.
Those without seats simply stood.
Every single competitor on the island was crammed into the space, craning their necks to watch Serena write.
The way they looked at her.
Was like gazing upon a revered deity.
"C-Captain..."
The other members of The Dreamscape Initiative couldn't help but peek at the board. They whispered, "We haven't been able to make any progress on this step either. Why don't we listen in and see if what she says makes sense?"
The team members were completely panicked about their stagnant progress.
They desperately wanted to push to the front and listen.
This was the most crucial factor in finishing the experiment.
If they could just glean the logic from Serena.
Their speed would increase drastically.
And they wouldn't hit so many dead ends.
But Bianca suddenly slapped one of them across the face. "What are you looking
at? This is clearly a trap set by that bitch to sabotage us!"
"Do you really think she'd be kind enough to help her rivals?"
"If you listen to her, she'll completely derail your progress!"
"I brought you onto my team and gave you amazing perks! Now use your brains and
go figure it out! Let's crush that bitch and see if she's still so cocky!"
With that, Bianca spun on her heel and stormed off.
Isabella cast a dark glare at Serena before quickly following.
The remaining three members of The Dreamscape Initiative looked absolutely miserable.
They stared blankly at Serena, standing brilliantly in the light, effortlessly scribbling out complex equations.
A bitter wave of emotion washed over them.
They... felt a deep sense of regret.
Regret for joining The Dreamscape Initiative.
Regret for looking down on Serena and missing out on the chance to team up with her.
They had made a terrible mistake...
"Pay attention, I'm only saying this once."
Serena's cool voice was calm and steady.
She raised the marker, pointing to a line of the formula. "The core of this algorithm..."
A sea of competitors sat before the board.
Not a single person made a sound.
They all stared intently at the equations, the only noise being the frantic scratching
of pens against paper.
The whiteboard was quickly covered in an intimidating web of math.
At first, everyone assumed that an
algorithmic deduction of this
magnitude would take a
national level expert at least half a day just to sketch out the basics.
Serena had claimed she only needed thirty minutes.
They figured they would just absorb whatever they could in that short timeframe.
After all, this computation was the critical missing link in the neural experiment.
It was a wall that had stumped every single genius present.
But slowly, they realized they were wrong.
Standing effortlessly before the board, Serena unraveled the chaotic, labyrinthian equations layer by layer.
Using the most direct, concise language possible, she made absolute sense of it all.
Stripping away any convoluted
academic jargon, she
the
Mechanisms and broke them,
down logically.
In less than twenty minutes.
"That's it." Serena lowered her
marker, her cool gaze sweeping over the wide-eyed, utterly stunned
competitors. If you grasp this
foundational logic, you'll be able to
code the rest of the sequence
yourselves."