Chapter 25: Becoming the Stand God

"C! Carbon dioxide!"

[When the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft completed its first crewed test flight, the hydrazine-based propellant used in its external thrusters does not produce which of the following combustion products?]

"C! Carbon dioxide!"

[When the Fendouzhe submersible reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench, its acoustic velocity-positioning system was precisely calibrated to match the sound propagation characteristics of which medium found in the ten-thousand-meter deep sea?]

"The interface medium between seawater and seafloor sediment!"

[In the CRISPR-Cas9 technology related to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the precision with which the Cas9 protein recognizes and cleaves DNA depends on which molecular interaction mechanism between the guide RNA and the target DNA?]

"Complementary base pairing and hydrogen bond-specific binding!"

[China's world-first 6G experimental satellite, the "University of Electronic Science and Technology of China" satellite, carries a terahertz communication payload. Compared to 5G millimeter-wave communication, what is the greatest technical breakthrough it achieves in core performance?]

"Ultra-high bandwidth and ultra-low transmission latency on a single link!"

The five final questions were indeed as difficult as Brother Xiang had warned. When these questions appeared, whether it was the live audience or the viewers watching on their screens, a full ninety-nine percent of people could read the questions — but had absolutely no idea what the answers were.

Yet Ye Qinghe gave the correct answer the instant each question appeared, just as he had with every other question before — without a moment's hesitation!

"This guy is insane. He actually knows all of this?"

"Right? No wonder Brother Xiang gave a special heads-up about these questions. If it were anyone else, they'd probably be done after the very first one!"

"I'm just curious how Ye Qinghe even memorizes all this stuff. These questions are completely different from the earlier ones — they're all about recent events. If you weren't actively following this kind of news, there's no way you'd know the answers."

"His breadth of knowledge is unreal. How does he know all of this? Honestly, I'm starting to think Ye Qinghe might be a plant. What normal person would know all this?"

The comment section exploded again. Some praised Ye Qinghe's brilliance; others suspected he was a shill.

This time, though, no one pushed back the way they had before. In fact, quite a few people felt there was genuine reason for suspicion.

The reason was simple: these questions were objectively difficult, and the fact that Ye Qinghe answered them so quickly struck many viewers as a little too good to be true.

"Let us congratulate Ye Qinghe on becoming the Stand God of this episode!!! He takes home all the prizes for this round, plus the grand finale prize!!! Congratulations, Ye Qinghe!"

Brother Xiang shouted excitedly into the camera, his voice full of genuine emotion. Even he hadn't expected Ye Qinghe to actually get them all right. If he hadn't known for a fact that Ye Qinghe hadn't pulled any strings behind the scenes, he might have suspected some kind of inside deal himself.

Still, he couldn't help but feel a deep admiration for the sheer breadth of Ye Qinghe's knowledge.

When he'd first seen those questions, he had fully expected Ye Qinghe to crash and burn.

Backstage, another person who let out a long sigh of relief was Zhao Qingyang.

The moment those questions were drawn, he had been completely stunned. He never could have imagined that Ye Qinghe's luck would be so terrible — that the batch of ultra-difficult questions they had just added would be the very ones Ye Qinghe ended up selecting.

If Ye Qinghe had stumbled at this final hurdle, everything he had been planning would have gone up in smoke!

Fortunately, Ye Qinghe had come through. He hadn't been stopped by those questions, and he had delivered a flawless performance.

"Congratulations to Ye Qinghe! Congratulations on becoming our newest Stand God!"

Xiao Min smiled and added her congratulations from the side.

The live audience, along with the ten contestants who had already been eliminated, all rose to their feet and applauded. They, too, had been won over by Ye Qinghe's performance.

"Qinghe, now that you've become the Stand God of this episode, you have one choice to make: whether or not to challenge the reigning champion from the previous episode. If you issue the challenge and succeed, you will become the new reigning champion. Hold the champion's seat successfully three times, and you'll have the chance to earn an annual salary of 200,000 yuan as a Think Tank researcher with our show!"

"Now, please tell us your decision!"

When the applause died down, Brother Xiang walked over to Ye Qinghe, crouched down beside him, and asked with a look of complete sincerity.

"I choose to challenge. That's exactly why I came here!"

Ye Qinghe spoke clearly and deliberately into the microphone Brother Xiang held out to him.

"Excellent! Please welcome our reigning champion, Meng Xingyu, who has successfully defended the title twice in a row!!!"

Meng Xingyu had been seated in the champion's seat since the start of the show. Hearing Brother Xiang's call, he rose from his seat and waved his arms toward the cameras and the audience.

"Meng Xingyu has successfully defended the championship twice. One more successful defense and he will secure the 200,000-yuan annual salary position. Faced with the formidable Ye Qinghe, can he hold on and win this crucial battle?"

"And Ye Qinghe, who just conquered those brutally difficult questions — can he pull off the upset and claim the champion's throne from the two-time defending champion Meng Xingyu? We'll find out right after the break!"

By this point in the recording, not just the people on set but the audience as well had been sitting for a long time and were eager for a pause. So when Brother Xiang announced the commercial break, the whole production came to a halt — contestants reached for their water bottles, others headed to the restroom, and audience members streamed out into the aisles.

The livestream, however, kept rolling even as the official broadcast paused. Viewers watching the stream got a clear look at everything happening on set during the break — and that was actually one of the show's biggest draws. A lot of people genuinely loved that kind of unfiltered authenticity.

"How are you holding up, Qinghe? Tired?" Brother Xiang walked over to Ye Qinghe and asked with a smile.

For an ordinary person, a recording session this long would be exhausting — let alone for someone in Ye Qinghe's condition.

"Not tired. You get tired because your body can feel things. I can't feel anything right now, so there's nothing to be tired from. The most I'd get after a long stretch is mentally drowsy."

Ye Qinghe said it with a smile. He didn't mind at all using his own situation as material for a self-deprecating joke.

"You really have an incredible attitude!"

Xiao Min, standing nearby, looked at him with undisguised admiration. She honestly didn't think she could handle things the same way if she were in his position.

"What choice do I have? If I don't keep a good attitude, what then? So I might as well look on the bright side!"

Ye Qinghe chuckled and shook his head.

"That's easy to say, but how many people could actually do it? Anyway — our show records two episodes back to back. If you win the challenge, we could be here for quite a few more hours. Do you think you can manage?"

That was what Brother Xiang was worried about. Given the breadth of knowledge Ye Qinghe had already shown, he felt there was a very real chance Ye Qinghe could end up being the final winner — which would mean several more hours of recording. Whether Ye Qinghe's body could hold up was a genuine concern.

"About that — I'm sorry, but I need to take Qinghe to take care of some personal hygiene matters."