Chapter 169 The King of Fighters

On the afternoon of the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, the weather outside was still a bit chilly.

From time to time, a few sporadic firecracker sounds could be heard from the distant streets and alleys, crackling and popping before returning to silence, with a lingering festive atmosphere in the air.

But in Zhang Qiang's bedroom, that last bit of warmth had long since been frozen.

Zhang Qiangsheng slumped helplessly in the swivel chair, his whole body like a boneless noodle sliding down the back of the chair. His desk was practically a small altar.

On the left, several unopened boxes of Life No. 1 and Brain Gold were stacked high, while on the right, several brand-new tutoring materials for the second semester of the second year of junior high school were piled up. In the very center of the desk, like an enshrined memorial tablet, a black hardcover notebook was placed neatly.

That was on the second day of the Lunar New Year, when Chen Zhuo personally gave him the death warrant in front of his parents.

Next to the notebook, in the shadows under the lamp, was a neatly stacked pile of shiny coins.

Fifty.

Not one more, not one less.

That was the money he originally planned to squander at the downtown arcade on the second day of the Lunar New Year, but now it's all gone.

When Zhang Qiang was feeling dizzy from doing so many practice problems, he would stare blankly at the stack of game coins, as if mourning his winter vacation, which had already died before it even began.

"Ding-dong"

The doorbell rang.

Then came the sound of the door opening, followed by his mother's voice, which suddenly rose eight octaves, full of surprise and enthusiasm.

"Oh! Xiao Zhuo's here! Come in quickly, is it cold outside?"

Zhang Qiang, who was slumped in the chair, twitched his ears and sat up slightly.

"Happy New Year, Auntie. I've come to see Qiangzi for a while."

Chen Zhuo's gentle voice came from the living room.

"Good, good, good. Qiangzi is reading in his room. You've come at the right time. Go and give him some pointers. He's been holed up in his room these past few days reading the notes you gave him. I wonder if he's actually absorbed anything."

Hearing the commotion outside the door, Zhang Qiang couldn't help but roll his eyes.

The footsteps stopped at the door of the study.

The door was pushed open.

Chen Zhuo walked in, looked at Zhang Qiang slumped in the chair, and had a faint smile on his lips.

Zhang Qiang's mother followed closely behind, carrying a large tray.

On the tray were not only gleaming red Fuji apples and sliced ​​oranges, but also two bottles of Lebashi milk, which she usually couldn't bear to give to Zhang Qiang as water. "Xiao Zhuo, sit here."

Zhang Qiang's mother enthusiastically pulled out a chair next to the desk and wiped the already spotless chair surface twice with a tissue.

"Auntie, don't bother, I just finished eating and came over."

Chen Zhuo smiled and sat down in the chair.

"It's alright, it's alright. You guys study brainpower, it takes a lot of energy. Have some fruit."

Zhang Qiang's mother placed the tray on the corner of the table, and when she turned to look at Zhang Qiang, the smile on her face instantly vanished, replaced by a serious expression. "Zhang Qiang, Xiao Zhuo finally got a day off and even came all the way to see you. If there's anything you don't understand, just ask her. Don't dawdle and waste her time, you hear me?"

"understood."

Zhang Qiang responded weakly.

"Then you two take your time looking at it. Auntie is going out now, I won't disturb you."

Zhang Qiang's mother put on a smile again as she looked at Chen Zhuo, and quietly left the study, thoughtfully closing the door tightly. The sound of her footsteps fading away could even be heard outside the door.

The study door clicked shut and closed completely.

Just moments before, Zhang Qiang had been slumped over like a lump of mud, but the instant the door closed, he sprang up from his swivel chair as if springy. He rushed to the door, pressed his ear against it for a few seconds, and only after confirming that his mother had gone to the living room to watch TV did he turn around. Zhang Qiang pointed a finger at Chen Zhuo, who was sitting in the chair, his face filled with grief and indignation.

"Brother Zhuo."

Zhang Qiang lowered his voice, his tone filled with endless grievance.

"What on earth happened to you on the second day of the Lunar New Year? It's one thing to trick me all the time, but to give me this notebook in front of my mother? You're practically committing patricide! I haven't even stepped outside the door these past few days!"

Chen Zhuo leaned back in his chair, watching Zhang Qiang's aggressive demeanor without saying a word. He simply reached under the light and picked up the top arcade coin.

The coin flipped between my fingers.

"You look quite energetic."

Chen Zhuo smiled.

"Energetic my ass!"

Zhang Qiang scratched his already messy hair, walked back to his desk, plopped down heavily, and pointed at the winter break homework on the table. "You really messed me up in the second year of junior high. I memorized that notebook, but what's the use? Just thinking about how Old Zhao will be standing on that glass window by the back door staring at me with that death stare in a few days when school starts makes my legs tremble."

Zhang Qiang got angrier and angrier as he spoke, and finally threw his pen on the table.

"It was like this last semester. Old Zhao was watching me every day. Now he's making me his main target for improvement. If I drop an eraser and bend down to pick it up during morning self-study, he can glare at me from outside the window for ages. Now that I have your magic weapon, my mom said yesterday that if I don't get into the top 20 in my class when school starts, she'll personally go to the school to find Old Zhao and ask him to cast even more spells on me!"

Zhang Qiang let out a long sigh and looked up at the ceiling.

"I can't live like this anymore."

Chen Zhuo sat beside Zhang Qiang, listening to his rapid-fire complaints, and flicked his thumb lightly.

With a ding, the game coin bounced into the air and landed steadily back in his palm.

"Old Zhao is giving you a high opinion of himself."

Chen Zhuo held the coin in his hand, his tone relaxed.

"We're grooming you to be our most promising disciple."

"I'd rather sweep the floors at Shaolin Temple than become his last disciple."

Zhang Qiang muttered to himself.

"If you really can't stand him staring at you like that every day, I'll teach you a trick."

Chen Zhuo leaned forward, resting his elbows on the edge of the desk, and looked at Zhang Qiang.

Upon hearing the words "secret weapon," Zhang Qiang's eyes lit up slightly, but he immediately became wary again.

"What special move? Don't trick me again."

Chen Zhuo raised an eyebrow, his tone somewhat nonchalant.

"On the first day of school, go to his office and tell him that the winter break homework was too basic and not challenging enough." Zhang Qiang was stunned, thinking he had misheard.

Chen Zhuo continued.

"Then you ask him to find you a few sets of challenging problems from past National Junior High School Mathematics Leagues, saying you want to practice. I guarantee that after you say that, the way he looks at you will not only be less menacing, but will also be full of fatherly love."

The study was silent for two seconds.

Zhang Qiang's face gradually turned green.

He recoiled in alarm, and the chair slid a short distance across the floor.

"Just kill me!"

Zhang Qiang looked at Chen Zhuo as if he were a monster.

"If I dared to go to Old Zhao's office and say that, he'd probably dissect me right there on his desk to see if I'd been possessed by aliens! The National Junior High School Math League? I couldn't even solve the last big question on the final exam!"

Seeing Zhang Qiang's expression of near collapse, Chen Zhuo finally couldn't help but chuckle softly.

He put the arcade token back on top of the stack of coins, making a crisp clinking sound.

"Alright, I'm not teasing you anymore."

Chen Zhuo turned his gaze back to the study guide that was open in front of Zhang Qiang.

"Where is it stuck?"

When homework was mentioned, Zhang Qiang's shoulders slumped again.

He pulled his chair back to his desk and pointed to a large geometry problem on the test paper.

"I've been staring at this dish for half an hour, and I've even torn two sheets of draft paper."

Chen Zhuo glanced down at it.

This is a classic comprehensive geometry problem from the second semester of eighth grade. The problem gives a circle, two tangent lines drawn from a point outside the circle, and an isosceles triangle nested in the middle. Prove that two line segments are equal, and then find the measure of an angle.

The image has several solid lines drawn haphazardly, which is visually distracting.

Zhang Qiang stood to the side, scratching his hair in frustration.

"Old Zhao says in class every day that when doing geometry problems, you need to develop your graphic intuition, understand the overall logic of the problem, and learn to deduce the conclusion from the conditions." Zhang Qiang pointed to the complicated figure and complained bitterly.

"I have absolutely no intuition! When I see this picture, my mind goes blank. There's a circle here, a triangle there, and what's with the tangents and secants? I have no idea where to draw the first line. It feels like any line makes sense, but then again, none of them are useful."

As Zhang Qiang spoke, he opened the black leather notebook that Chen Zhuo had given him.

"I've memorized all those congruent triangle criteria and tangent properties you summarized for me, but when it comes to this diagram, how am I supposed to know which one to use? With so many conditions combined, I just can't wrap my head around it."

Chen Zhuo listened to Zhang Qiang's complaints, his gaze lingering on the problem for a moment before turning to look at the neat stack of arcade tokens on the corner of the table. Chen Zhuo knew all too well what Zhang Qiang's problem was.

He can memorize a specific formula or recite a theorem.

However, when faced with complex problems that require multiple conditions to be met simultaneously and several prerequisites to arrive at a conclusion, his brain capacity would instantly overflow, causing him to crash.

The kind of holistic intuition that Lao Zhao demanded was, to Zhang Qiang, like asking a computer that could only play Minesweeper to run a large-scale 3D game. Completely incompatible.

Since it's incompatible with global thinking, then break the global perspective down.

Chen Zhuo reached out and pushed the stack of arcade tokens over, scattering the coins on the table with a clattering sound.

Zhang Qiang was startled and looked at Chen Zhuo.

Chen Zhuo picked out a coin and tapped it lightly on the table.

"Qiangzi, I have a question for you."

Chen Zhuo didn't point to the geometry problem, but looked into Zhang Qiang's eyes, his tone becoming casual.

"When you're playing King of Fighters '97 in an arcade in the city center and you're using Iori Yagami, if the opponent picks Kyo Kusanagi, he might suddenly jump over from the other side of the screen and kick you."

Chen Zhuo paused for a moment.

"At this moment, do you think about the angle of his jump's parabola, how to calculate the collision volume at the moment of his landing, or how many seconds his attack hitbox is?"

Zhang Qiang rolled his eyes as if he were looking at an idiot.

"Am I crazy to think about these things?"

As soon as the topic of arcade games came up, Zhang Qiang perked up immediately, and the listlessness he had felt while doing his homework vanished.

"If the opponent dares to jump, I don't care what the trajectory is, I'll just close my eyes and throw a heavy punch into the air, or pull back the stick to do a Ghost Burn and knock him down! After he lands, I'll follow up with a Sunflower and take away half of his health."

Zhang Qiang even unconsciously made a motion as if he were rubbing a joystick, and said with righteous indignation:

"That's called muscle memory! Who uses their brain to calculate data when playing arcade games? You just see the action and press the buttons!"

"Oh, right."

Chen Zhuo slapped the coin in his hand onto the exam paper, making a soft sound.

"Muscle memory".

Chen Zhuo looked at Zhang Qiang, his tone calm but carrying an undeniable certainty.

"Old Zhao told you to use your overall intuition, but you can't figure it out. If you can't, then don't bother looking for it."

Zhang Qiang was stunned, wondering what Chen Zhuo was up to.

Chen Zhuo took the pencil from Zhang Qiang and pointed the tip at the complicated geometry problem.

"From today onwards, when you do junior high geometry problems, don't think about what they're testing you on, and don't worry about what they ultimately ask for." Chen Zhuo looked at Zhang Qiang.

"Just treat it like playing King of Fighters, memorize the move lists."

"A move list?"

Zhang Qiang was a little confused.

"right."

Chen Zhuo drew a horizontal line on the first line of text in the title with the tip of his pen.

"Look here, the question mentions the words 'tangent AB to circle 0'."

Chen Zhuo turned his head to look at Zhang Qiang.

"That's when the other side jumps."

Zhang Qiang blinked, seemingly realizing what was happening.

"Forget about the overall problem-solving process, and forget about how messy the diagram is. What is your muscle memory?"

Without waiting for Zhang Qiang's reply, Chen Zhuo directly used a pencil to connect the center (0) and the point of tangency on the diagram, and then drew a small right-angle symbol. "When you see the word 'tangent,' your hand automatically connects the center and the point of tangency and marks it with a right angle. That's your way of delivering a powerful punch into the air. You don't need to think; you just see the words and execute the action."

Chen Zhuo's pen moved down the line of the question and stopped at the second sentence.

"Look here again, it's an isosceles triangle CDE."

Chen Zhuo tapped the exam paper.

"An isosceles triangle, regardless of the specifics, what is your muscle memory?"

Chen Zhuo shoved the pencil back into Zhang Qiang's hand and pointed to the triangle in the picture.

"Draw a height directly from the top down. It's like you're making a dark flick, then a punch. You don't need to think about why; just draw it reflexively."

Zhang Qiang held the pen and swallowed.

He didn't think about what the question was asking; he just mechanically followed Chen Zhuo's instructions. When he saw an isosceles triangle, he drew an altitude perpendicular to the base on the diagram and marked two equal angles.

"very good."

Chen Zhuo nodded in satisfaction.

"Keep scanning, the question also mentions angle bisectors. What do you do when you encounter angle bisectors?"

...Draw perpendicular lines to both sides?

Zhang Qiang tentatively asked a question, referring to a line written in Chen Zhuo's notes.

"Yes, draw it on."

Zhang Qiang held a pencil and moved his wrist across the drawing, drawing two vertical lines.

Throughout the entire process, he didn't think about the logical chain of the problem at all. He was just like a machine executing code, or like a player blind typing on a keyboard. When he saw specific terms in the problem, he would fill in the corresponding auxiliary lines on the diagram.

"Alright, that's enough combo."

Chen Zhuo leaned back in his chair and pointed to the paper that Zhang Qiang had drawn several auxiliary lines on.

"Now, look at this picture again."

Zhang Qiang lowered his head and looked at the drawing he had just finished.

The geometric diagram, which was originally chaotic and looked like a pot of porridge to him, suddenly changed after these three auxiliary lines were added without any thought.

The radius connecting the point of tangency and the altitude of the isosceles triangle form a clear right triangle inside the circle, and the two perpendicular lines drawn from the angle bisector clearly outline the contours of the two congruent triangles.

All the hidden conditions were exposed to the light of day at this moment, as if they had been deactivated.

This problem has been broken down.

The answer is laid out clearly on the paper, ready to be revealed.

Zhang Qiang gasped.

The pencil in his hand fell onto the table with a thud.

He stared at the exam paper in disbelief, then looked up at Chen Zhuo, his mouth slightly agape, unable to utter a word for a long time.

"This... this is the solution?"

Zhang Qiang felt that his worldview had been severely impacted.

He used to try to mentally construct the entire proof process when solving geometry problems, but this would always crash due to insufficient memory. Now, he simply acts like a mindless, emotionless machine, not thinking about why, but only looking at keywords to trigger actions. As a result, the problem is solved by itself!

This is practically a mindless physical cheat code!

"Holy crap."

Zhang Qiang couldn't help but swear, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

It was the first time he had ever done a math problem, and it gave him the same exhilarating feeling as unleashing amazing moves in an arcade game!

"Brother Zhuo, you're awesome!"

Zhang Qiang was so excited that he grabbed Chen Zhuo's arm.

"With this set of tricks, I'm not afraid of Old Zhao at all! Come on, where's the next question? I'll give it another try!"

Zhang Qiang frantically flipped through his workbook and found a more complex problem about circles.

He was muttering to himself.

"See the diameter... draw a right angle, see the midpoint... draw a midline, a heavy punch into the air, a hidden arrangement..." His pencil scribbled across the paper, and in less than a minute, a complete logical chain was clearly presented on the diagram. Watching Zhang Qiang's excitement, as if he'd been injected with adrenaline, Chen Zhuo simply sat quietly beside him, watching him scribble and draw on the test paper.

Chen Zhuo didn't think this method was particularly advanced.

This is actually a very basic algorithm logic.

Break down a large and complex system engineering project into individual, mechanically executable sub-modules.

He used the same approach when he was teaching Chu Ge how to handle high concurrency in a database over the phone a few days ago.

However, he used discrete algebraic matrices for Chu Ge.

Against Zhang Qiang, he used the King of Fighters move list.

Essentially, there is no difference.

Seeing Zhang Qiang solve two challenging problems in a row and excitedly flipping through the pages to do the third, Chen Zhuo reached out and pressed down on the workbook. "Alright, stop now."

Chen Zhuo looked at Zhang Qiang.

"Too much of a good thing is bad. This thing is just a tool. Just get a feel for the triggering of this condition. There's no need to do a whole semester's worth of problems in one day. If your brain is constantly in this excited state, you'll easily forget them."

Zhang Qiang then put down his pen and let out a long breath.

Looking at the several difficult problems on the table that he had personally solved, he felt incredibly strong, even having the illusion that he could challenge Old Zhao to a duel tomorrow.

Chen Zhuo stood up and straightened his clothes.

"Sit still."

Chen Zhuo whispered a message.

Zhang Qiang had no idea what Chen Zhuo was up to, so he could only sit obediently in the chair.

Chen Zhuo turned around, walked to the door of the study, grasped the doorknob, and pulled the door open.

Outside the door, Zhang Qiang's mother was sitting on the sofa in the living room watching TV. Hearing the study door open, she immediately turned around. Chen Zhuo stood in the doorway, wearing that gentle and understanding smile that elders love most.

"Aunt."

Chen Zhuo raised his voice slightly to make sure everyone in the living room could hear him clearly.

"Qiangzi was in particularly good form today. He had thoroughly grasped the core geometric logic of those challenging questions from the second semester of eighth grade and got them right on the first try."

Sitting at his desk, Zhang Qiang felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing this, but he had to admit that Chen Zhuo's act of playing a good kid was flawless. Upon hearing this, Zhang Qiang's mother's face lit up with a smile. She even stopped watching TV, stood up, walked to the study door, and peeked inside. "Oh my, really? Qiangzi, all that studying at home these past few days hasn't been in vain!"

My mom couldn't stop smiling, her voice full of pride.

"Xiao Zhuo, you're so resourceful! All our words are no match for your two pointers. Qiangzi, hurry up and thank Xiao Zhuo!" Zhang Qiang said dryly from his chair.

"Thank you, Brother Zhuo."

Chen Zhuo turned to look at Zhang Qiang, then turned back to Zhang Qiang's mother and said.

"Auntie, no need for thanks. But his brain has been working at high intensity all afternoon, and it's already at full capacity."

Chen Zhuo spoke in a grand and dignified manner.

"Mathematics can't be learned by rote memorization alone. He needs to relax and give his brain a change of environment so that he can thoroughly consolidate the problem-solving skills he just learned."

Chen Zhuo looked at Zhang Qiang's mother.

"I'll take him downstairs for a walk and some fresh air. School starts soon, and I'll also talk to him about adjusting his mindset for the new semester so he doesn't feel too much pressure." Hearing this, Zhang Qiang's mother had no reason to refuse.

With a nationally renowned top-scoring student as a guarantor, they not only tutored the students but also provided psychological support—you couldn't find such treatment anywhere else. "Alright, alright, you guys go and have a look around."

Zhang Qiang's mother quickly made way for him.

"It's not good to stay cooped up indoors all day. Go get some fresh air, Xiao Zhuo. You'll have dinner at Auntie's tonight!"

"Okay, then thank you for your help, Auntie."

After Chen Zhu finished speaking, he turned his head and gestured with his chin towards Zhang Qiang.

"Put on your coat, let's go."

Zhang Qiang sprang up from his chair, deftly grabbed the down jacket hanging on the back of the chair, and put it on as he walked out.

As he passed the desk, he quickly wiped his hand on the corner of the desk.

The stack of fifty arcade tokens instantly slipped into the large pocket of his down jacket.

The two walked out the door one after the other.

After going downstairs, I walked out of the gate of the residential compound.

A cold northern wind blew in my face, carrying the occasional snowflake.

Once out of his parents' sight, Chen Zhuo's good boy and teacher expression vanished instantly.

He stopped and turned to look at Zhang Qiang beside him.

Chen Zhuo had his hands in his coat pockets.

He didn't mention anything about adjusting one's mindset, nor did he say a single word about math problems.

Chen Zhuo simply pointed with his chin to Zhang Qiang's bulging down jacket pockets.

"Are those fifty coins in your pocket rusted yet?"

Chen Zhuo's tone was light and cheerful.

Zhang Qiang was stunned for a moment.

"Walk."

Chen Zhuo turned around and walked along the street.

"Let's go downtown and see just how sensitive that brand-new King of Fighters '97 joystick you mentioned is."

Zhang Qiang stood in the cold wind.

He clutched the fifty heavy game coins in his pocket, listening to the faint metallic sound they made as they collided.

At this moment, looking at Chen Zhuo's slightly thin back in front of him.

Zhang Qiang was so moved that his nose tingled, and he almost kowtowed to Chen Zhuo on the spot.

What does it mean to be brothers?

He might trick you in front of your mom, but then he can pull you out of your study and take you to play video games.

These are brothers who would risk their lives for each other!

"Hey! Brother Zhuo, wait for me!"

Zhang Qiang sniffed, shouted excitedly, and strode off, stepping on the remaining snow on the ground, running wildly towards the direction he had been longing for for several days.