Chapter 237
Jackson's meaning was obvious.
Huaxia's victory was merely based on luck.
Rong Yu smiled.
Losers always found excuses for their failures. It was perfectly normal; no matter how excellent you were, if they thought you were terrible, then in their eyes, you were terrible.
There was nothing to explain.
Because the opinions most people held of her did not even affect her as much as the glass of water she drank in the morning.
She stepped forward to leave.
But in Jackson's eyes, her attitude was pure contempt and disdain.
He grew even more irritated. "Hey, didn't you hear me? Or do you just not understand? Winning the preliminaries is nothing; the finals are where the real test lies. Don't think your Huaxia country can go far on luck alone. Trash with good luck is still trash."
Rong Yu finally looked up.
The lights reflected in her pitch-black eyes like tempered blades.
"Luck?" She gave a soft chuckle. "Mr. Jackson, if an error rate of 0.001% is luck—" She leaned in slightly, her voice as light as a feather yet cutting to the bone. "Then what should the 0.1% error rate of your Lighthouse Country be called? Bad luck? People who are too unlucky should stay far away from me."
Sheng Ciyuan made a gesture of disgust.
The expressions of the Lighthouse Country team members changed drastically.
Jackson said angrily, "You Huaxia people have no manners at all!"
Song Huai was usually a man of few words, but even he could not hold back at this moment. "Huaxia has five thousand years of civilization, while your Lighthouse Country only has two hundred. You really don't have the right to lecture us about manners."
For the first time, Rong Yu agreed with Song Huai.
She wore a smile on her face. "We Huaxia people do not show courtesy to a group of people who dictate terms about our territorial issues and constantly set restrictions in the field of technology."
From the side, members of the Sakura team walked over. "Rong, academic exchanges should be pure. They shouldn't involve politics..."
"Captain Sato." Rong Yu suddenly switched to fluent Japanese, her voice turning as cold as ice. "When the city of Jinling fell in 1937, what were the scholars of your country doing?"
Sato's expression changed drastically.
Recalling that period of history, a trace of pain surfaced in Rong Yu's cold eyes.
Others only read about this tragic history in textbooks, but she had been twelve years old that year, standing in Haicheng, gazing toward Jinling in utter agony.
Still studying vocal music at the time, she had resolutely given it up.
With the nation torn apart, what good was singing?
Song Huai was a sensitive person. He acutely noticed the shift in Rong Yu's emotions. To think she would have such a massive emotional fluctuation when facing people from the Sakura Country?
To be honest, that part of history had passed for over half a century. The governments of Huaxia and Sakura Country had officially reconciled, and many citizens traveled to Sakura Country almost every year. It was rare for a young person to reveal such deep-seated hatred.
"Let's put aside the massacre that angered both men and gods for a moment," Rong Yu spoke. "Back then, you were plundering Huaxia's cultural relics and burning Huaxia's ancient texts. Kyoto University still houses tens of thousands of precious documents stolen from Huaxia—"
The members of the Sakura Country team collectively took a half-step back.
Rong Yu's lip line was as sharp as a knife. "And now you want to talk to me about academic purity. Do you even deserve to, hmm?"
Seeing this, Jackson tried to interject, but she shot him a piercing glare. "And your Lighthouse Country. During the war, you condoned looting, stripping our millennia-old civilization of its cultural artifacts—"
She raised her head to look at the growing crowd of onlookers, her voice echoing across the square:
"Standing here today, we are competing not just in physics, but in a nation's reverence for the truth and respect for history!"
Amidst the dead silence, Rong Yu cast one last glance at Jackson. "See the real deal in the finals? Alright, I will let all of you know—"
"The five thousand years of cultural heritage of the Chinese nation is not something you can easily shake."
She took wide strides and walked out of the competition arena.
Teacher Huang looked at her in astonishment. This child had so much national integrity. Outstanding students with such a strong sense of righteousness were becoming increasingly rare. No wonder so many academicians voted for her to be the team leader.
"Good, good, good! Truly worthy of being a child of the Rong family!" Rong Wangtian, standing at the door, happened to hear these words. His eyes turned red. "Little Yu, Dad is so proud of you!"
He still remembered his college days when he and a group of classmates marched to boycott goods from the Sakura Nation. Whenever they saw imported goods from the Sakura Nation, they would smash and destroy them. Back then, he was just a hot-blooded youth who only knew how to solve problems with violence.
But his daughter was able to stand on the world stage and bend the spines of these foreign powers.
"But..." Madam Song frowned. "Those people from the Sakura Nation looked furious. We've offended them too much. If they cause any trouble, will the children be able to handle it?"
"What are you saying, Madam Song," Rong Wangtian spoke up. "This is Hong Kong, the territory of our Hua Xia. If foreigners dare to cause trouble here, aren't they just bringing about their own destruction? Although we Hua Xia people believe that visitors are guests and that harmony brings wealth, when it comes to matters of the nation, we must stick to our principles."
Several parents nearby echoed his sentiments.
Teacher Huang said, "Tomorrow is a rest day, and the finals are the day after. I suggest all parents take their children to get some good rest..."
Everyone said their goodbyes.
A distance away, Mother Su pulled Su Ronghua aside and said, "Didn't you say that after the preliminaries, the organizing committee would hold a revote for the team leader? If you're too embarrassed to ask, I'll go say it. This team leader must be you!"
Su Ronghua's expression was ugly. "Even if they vote again, they won't choose me."
Rong Yu's performance was too perfect; not a single flaw could be picked out. The talent he had once been so proud of was nothing in front of Rong Yu.
Mother Su grew anxious. "But only by becoming the team leader will your application to Harvard University not be rejected. Your dad and I have lived frugally to pay for your studies, and I quit my job to raise you full-time. The whole family is counting on you. You can't drop the ball at this crucial moment... Let's go talk to Rong Yu. Maybe she'll give the team leader position to you."
"She isn't that generous." Su Ronghua looked up. "I'm only a sophomore in high school. I still have a chance to compete again next year. Don't panic."
As long as he didn't run into a monstrous genius like Rong Yu in the next competition, with his abilities, he would definitely be able to become the team leader and get an admission letter from Harvard University.
Rong Yu returned to the hotel.
Old Master Ji had also just returned. "Mom, Yuan and I went to Li's Hospital today. Director Li arranged for me to have a physical examination tomorrow. If everything goes smoothly, I'll be able to receive the injection soon. When the time comes, I'll bring Uncle Tang over together, so Uncle Tang can also live a few more years."
Rong Yu looked at Ji Zhiyuan. "Did they provide any relevant information about this drug?"
Ji Zhiyuan picked up the document from the coffee table. "This is the hospital's internal data. Great-grandmother, please take a look."
Rong Yu opened the booklet.
The first half was entirely dedicated to introducing the project's clinical trial subjects. They were all powerful elites from various circles: the founder of Li's Hospital, the chairman of Harbor City Bank, the Zhou family real estate tycoon, the God of Gamblers from Xiangshan City... The participation of so many prominent figures instantly swept away any lingering doubts.
She continued to flip through the pages. The information about the drug itself was confined to a single, brief page.
The concept originally stemmed from the cellular regeneration abilities of the deep-sea immortal jellyfish, as well as the anti-aging mechanisms of tardigrades in extreme environments. The serum could activate human telomerase activity, delaying telomere shortening and increasing the maximum limit of cell division by 300%.
A single injection of the serum cost a staggering thirty million US dollars.