Chapter 242
As soon as the video was played, the expressions of everyone in the banquet hall changed. Hundreds of pairs of eyes turned to stare at Su Ronghua in unison.
"Traitor!" Sheng Ciyuan's face was full of disbelief. "For a mere two hundred thousand dollars, you sold out your teammates and your country. I was wondering why we kept running into so many problems during the experiment. It turns out we had a mole. Thank goodness Rong Yu was always there to solve them in time, otherwise, the Chinese team would have lost miserably!"
Song Huai shook his head. "And you actually tried to team up with Jackson to put the blame on us."
Ding Zhe slammed his champagne flute onto the table. "Su Ronghua, are you even human?"
"Outrageous!" The chief judge was furious. "The country put so much effort into cultivating you so that you could win glory for the nation and contribute to the country, not so you could betray your teammates and your country at a critical moment! Your actions have severely violated the principles of the physics competition. The Physics Association will take you to court to face judgment from the highest judge."
Su Ronghua shook his head violently. "I didn't, it wasn't me..."
He was truly desperate for money. Two hundred thousand US dollars could do a lot of things.
Moreover, he also wanted to see Rong Yu fail.
She was too confident, too proud, acting as if she knew how to do everything. He wanted to see if she would come to him to discuss countermeasures if she failed.
But she didn't.
She calmly handled every unexpected situation throughout the entire process.
She took first place.
And it was a landslide victory.
Her excellence made him feel a sense of frustration that even if he lived ten more years, he might not be able to surpass her.
It was his jealousy that had swallowed his reason.
He couldn't even believe that he had actually done such a thing...
"Su Ronghua, the organizing committee will revoke your gold medal and certificate!" A judge shot him a cold look before turning their gaze to Jackson.
Jackson muttered several curses under his breath.
That idiot, he couldn't even be careful when doing dirty work, and actually got caught red-handed.
Before the chief judge could speak, he shrugged. "Do the judges of China still want to punish me? Don't forget, I am from the Lighthouse Nation. In the International Physics Association, people from the Lighthouse Nation make up seventy-five percent. China has no right to punish me, much less ban me from competing. Got it?"
These words successfully ignited the anger of everyone present.
A German said, "People from the Lighthouse Nation take drugs at sports events to evade inspections, and now they even cheat in physics competitions?"
Someone from the Sakura Nation said, "It makes it hard not to suspect whether our equipment malfunctioned during the finals because the Lighthouse Nation was causing trouble."
A Russian said, "Aha! So freedom and democracy mean tearing up the rules whenever you please?"
A French person said, "Look here, this is the world's number one Lighthouse Nation. If they can't win, they resort to sabotage. Tsk tsk, no wonder the Lighthouse Nation is number one in physics. So this is how they got to be number one."
Someone from the Kimchi Nation said, "If even basic fairness cannot be guaranteed, our country will withdraw from international competitions next year."
A mix of various languages rang out.
Jackson didn't care at all and laughed. "Please remember, the rules of this world are made by the strong."
He kicked his chair aside and walked out.
The people on his team were going crazy. Although second place wasn't very glorious, being pointed at and having their results questioned was obviously much worse!
The group of people scrambled out of the banquet hall in a panic.
Among the judges, there was also someone from the Lighthouse Nation. His face was flushed red, ashamed that his country had such a young man.
But there was nothing he could do.
Because Jackson's father was a member of the International Physics Association, no one could punish him.
"The International Physics Competition has never been a game of power." The chief judge's voice was unhurried but firm as iron. "The actions of the Lighthouse Nation's team have severely violated academic ethics and competition fairness. If we tacitly accept the existence of such despicable behavior out of fear of a certain country's power, then what is the point of this competition?"
The entire hall held its breath.
The chief judge's gaze swept over the judges from various countries and finally landed on the representative judge from the Lighthouse Nation's team.
"Therefore, by the unanimous decision of the Chinese judging panel—"
"The Lighthouse Nation team's results for this competition are hereby voided immediately."
The judge from the Lighthouse Nation widened his eyes. "This, this..."
The chief judge interrupted him. "This is China, and we will handle it according to China's rules."
"Good!" The Russian judge slammed his hand on the table. "Now that's what you call fairness!"
The German judge nodded. "It should have been done long ago. Hah, do they really think the international academic community is their own backyard?"
"At the same time, the International Physics Society will officially send a letter to the Lighthouse Nation's Physics Association, demanding an investigation into the individuals involved." He paused, his gaze burning like a torch. "Academia knows no borders, but morality has a bottom line."
"Beautiful! This is the demeanor of a great nation!"
"China won beautifully this time, and the ruling was even more beautiful!"
"..."
On the internet, a massive uproar had already been stirred up.
When Rong Yu appeared at the international competition as the team leader, it was already shocking enough.
When she took first place by a landslide, the entire internet boiled over, and Rong Yu's name was immediately pushed to the top of the trending searches.
And the moment the conspiracy was exposed, it could be said that the trending searches on every single platform across the internet exploded.
"LMAO, the Lighthouse Nation team can't afford to lose so they play dirty? In the end, Goddess Rong exposed them on the spot, their faces must be swollen from the slapping, right?"
"How did a moral traitor like Su Ronghua even get into the national team?"
"Come and admire the American double standards—when they cheat it's a technical error, when others win the championship it's just good luck."
"..."
"Rong Yu debuted in the entertainment industry as a landslide first place, and in the physics world, she's also a landslide first place winning glory for the country. I just want to ask, why doesn't she even have a public social media account?"
"My idol separates her work and personal life, there's nothing wrong with that."
"My daughter is a fan of Rong Yu. With Rong Yu as a role model, I hope my daughter can also stand on the international stage in the future."
"Rong Yu is so strong in the physics world, does this mean she won't be in the entertainment industry anymore?"
"No way, I still want to keep stanning her. If she leaves the industry, who am I supposed to stan?"
"..."
Rong Yu put down her champagne and went to the restroom. She never expected to bump into a group of girls. The girls looked at their phones, then looked at her, and then swarmed around her.
"Ahhh, it's Rong Yu!"
"Rong Yu is actually attending a banquet at this hotel, we are so lucky!"
"Rong Yu, can we take a picture together?"
"Rong Yu, can I get an autograph?"
"..."
Facing a group of cute little girls, Rong Yu couldn't bring herself to refuse. She took photos with them one by one. Fortunately, there were only seven or eight people, otherwise, she would have died of exhaustion.
After using the restroom, Rong Yu stayed obediently in the banquet hall and didn't go anywhere else, to avoid being surrounded again.
At this time, she received a message on her phone.
Rong Ruoyao: "Sister, do you plan to open a Weibo account? Many of your fans have been coming to me to ask."
Rong Yu: "No."
Opening a Weibo account was too troublesome, and she would have to interact and manage it. Just thinking about it gave her a headache.
She glanced at the time; the banquet was almost over.
"Bzz bzz bzz!"
Her phone vibrated violently. She took a look and saw it was a call from her son.
She answered with a smile: "Yingbao, it will be over in about ten minutes. Just wait for me in the room..."
Before the words could even fade, Old Master Ji interrupted, "Mom, Mom, this is bad! Yuan has gone missing. You have to think of something quickly..."