Chapter Five: The Price of Genius

” Two hundred prodigies believed they were competing for rank while jointly calculating twenty-three real evacuation routes. Lin Yan transmitted their work to the fire department and station speakers. At 4:52, the fire was extinguished. No one died. Lin Yan received zero points. The other students cheered their places until the wall displayed footage of the rescued passengers. “You stole two hundred minds,” Han Qi said. “You stole one hundred thousand lives first.” “They would all have been saved.” The equation had a root. Her model had permitted seventeen deaths for realistic pressure. Lin Yan recited the seventeen seat numbers. Observers behind the glass recoiled. Han Qi understood too late that measurement ran both ways.