After a few people's gags, the originally unusually tense atmosphere became much more relaxed.

This relatively relaxed atmosphere was maintained until the official beginning of the defence.

Since their numbers were relatively low, the group decided to sit in the audience first and observe the questioning styles of the professors in advance.

Some students at the bottom of the queue chose to enter the preparation room in advance and use the rest of the time to prepare, although there is not much time, but the more preparation, the more confidence in their hearts.

Originally, Shen Xunhan and the others also planned to ignore the mentors' side and prepare their own parts directly.

But before that, I received a message from Professor Zhang, asking them to familiarize themselves with the process first, and pay attention to the questions from the mentors, so that they can adapt when it is their turn later.

In addition to the dedicated judges, this competition also set up an additional question session for mentors. This mentor refers to the mentor who comes with the team from each country. Tutors can't interfere too much in a student's paper, but they all have three powers to ask questions to students from other teams on stage.

This was meant to reflect the fairness of the competition and to avoid bribery of the judges, which would make the competition no longer fair and just.

Professor Zhang sent them a few words with a colon in them, which made them change their minds temporarily.

Fang Jinchuan was very familiar with Professor Zhang's style, and based on the other party's past habits, it was speculated that he probably knew something temporarily, but it was difficult to say it clearly, so he used this way to remind them to pay attention.

Soon, as the defense progressed, Shen Xunhan and his party faintly noticed the problem!

At the beginning, the defense was relatively normal, and even because the students at the beginning were too nervous, the judges also tried to adjust the atmosphere.

But when the number in front of them was halfway through, Shen Xunhan noticed something unusual.

Xu Xiaoxiao, who was next to her, pulled her sleeve and whispered in her ear: "The question just asked by those mentors is obviously deliberately finding fault, right?" ”

But even so, the questions they ask are within the rules. Even if the judges of the organizing committee noticed that something was wrong, the rules were set by them before, especially now that the defense is halfway through, it is impossible to change it. Shen Xunhan also lowered his voice a lot.

Fang Jinchuan, who was sitting in the back, also interjected at this time: "I don't know if you have found out, the team asked by the mentor who asked this kind of question is very 'characteristic'. ”

"You mean...... Wait a minute...... Is it the team that had a dispute with country M in front of you? Xu Xiaoxiao reacted suddenly, and then, she suddenly thought of something, and her face changed.

"That said, it's easy for us to have the same problem when we play." Xu Ziping took the conversation.

"Because although the outstanding individuals will be selected in this defense, the focus is obviously on teamwork, which is the veritable highlight of this competition. In other words, the performance of each member of the team will be counted towards the final score. After this period of observation, the opponent is obviously aware of the weaknesses in each team. Those questions just now are very pertinent. Shen Xunhan analyzed.

After all, the reason why several teams can be targeted by country M is that there is a strong enough existence in their teams, or there is something worthy of their reference.

In this case, this also means that most of the members of the teams that are now being "troubled" are actually very strong. For example, the wiki of country E, which is focused on by country M, if the problems of those very "difficult" people are placed on him, even if it is difficult, it will not be stuck for no reason, and he can deal with one or two to some extent.

But it is clear that the people who are being asked are "hand-picked".

In this way, if there are relatively obvious mistakes in one or two problems, the impression of the whole team will be greatly reduced, which will further affect the results of the whole team.

Therefore, they have reason to suspect that this incident has a lot to do with the fact that country M was "deflated" in the previous incident.

Because they noticed that when asking those "tricky" questions, someone on the judges' bench obviously wanted to say something, but was pulled by the person next to them.

At that time, everyone's attention was on the tutor who asked the question and the student who answered, and that small action actually didn't receive much attention from others, but because Shen Xunhan was looking for the position of Professor Su who was sitting in the front row, his eyes just happened to be on the judges' seat.

In this way, people have to think about it a lot.

"Don't make a noise for now, what they say to Senior Cao may make them more nervous and not be able to play at their original level. Let's think about how to deal with it. Shen Xunhan instructed.

Before entering the venue, a few of them were nervous like that, if they knew that they were about to be "taken care of", it was very likely that their brains would go blank, and in that case, it would be easy for them to be affected by what was originally fine.

So, several people began to observe the situation on the stage while searching for a solution in their hearts.

However, as the time for them to come to power is getting closer and closer, the "solution" is still not in sight. After all, the other party can come up with this method, naturally because of their considerations. It is impossible for them to cheat, they are not afraid of questions related to the paper, and the previous preparation is sufficient.

It's just that Shen Xunhan is a little worried, and the problem will tilt in other directions.

It's like there was a special situation just happened in country E, that is, after the question about the paper was solved, I was probably in a lot more relaxed. The last tutor's question was a cliché, which made one of the students inadvertently say a little about the general progress of a certain research direction in his country.

This is really a big taboo, they can obviously see that although the other party answered the question, but in the next second of answering, his face instantly turned pale.

Obviously, he knew what he would do when he returned.

But the matter has come to this, Shen Xunhan and two others in front of them arrived at them, and several people glanced at each other.

I can only take one step at a time.

Several people went to the bathroom in advance, one is to solve personal problems, and the other is to tidy up their appearance, so as not to lose the face of the country and the team.

Just when Shen Xunhan was about to leave the cubicle after going to the bathroom, she reached out and pulled the doorknob of the cubicle.

An imperceptible light flashed by, and with a "thud", something slipped off her wrist holding her phone.

She was visibly stunned when she saw the glimmer of light, and for a moment joy, worry, and other emotions were intertwined, and it was complicated and indescribable.

This made her subconsciously focus on what had fallen on the ground.

He turned his hand, which had been reaching for the doorknob, and retracted it.

What is that?

(End of chapter)