Free Web NovelChapter 91: Chapter 86: A Record-Breaking Harvest
As the figure disappears around the corner, Kovalchik couldn’t help feeling deep respect. He firmly believed that Zhao Yi was not boasting.
The Rubik’s cube blindfold challenge is indeed tough.
Unless one is very familiar with the Rubik’s cube and undergoes extensive training, it will be impossible to complete the blindfold challenge.
Zhao Yi is different.
As a professional Rubik’s cube player himself, Kovalchik could tell instantly that Zhao Yi was not a professional, at most, an amateur player. The fact that he could complete a blindfold challenge was due solely to his remarkable intelligence and mental stamina.
Kovalchik had met people like Zhao Yi before.
If one argues that breaking a world record by manipulating a Rubik’s cube solely with brain power can be seen as a joke.
The Rubik’s cube is not something that can be mastered by intelligence alone. If you want to master the Rubik’s cube blindfold challenge, you first have to master the speed cube challenge, not necessarily to rank within the top hundred in the world, but the process of reproduction needs to be smooth.
Your intelligence is useless here.
In the speed cube challenge, you are wrestling against experience and hand speed.
Breaking the three-stage Rubik’s cube blindfold record based on intelligence alone is unthinkable.
Three-stage, four-stage, and five-stage Rubik’s cubes are actually interconnected. If you’re good at one kind of cube, you won’t do badly at the others.
The fact that Zhao Yi was able to bring the blindfold record for the three-stage Rubik’s cube to an unthinkable time, breaking the four-stage and five-stage cube blindfold records, can be said to be just a matter of ’willingness and unwillingness’.
When he applied for the Guinness record, he might have had the intention to break all the records, but after completing the three-stage Rubik’s cube blindfold record, he decided to give up the continued challenge.
Why?
The only thing Kovalchik could think of was that Zhao Yi didn’t want to deprive professional Rubik’s cube players of their hope of breaking records.
That’s really cruel!
Kovalchik, a professional Rubik’s cube player who also strived to break the blindfold record, knew what it felt like to face a record you can’t see any hope with.
"How noble!"
Kovalchik exhaled in admiration, knowing that he would never be able to do it himself.
If he had the ability to rewrite the Guinness record, he wouldn’t even think of leaving a chance for other players, but would strive to break the record and, better yet, have his name always listed in the record book.
Unfortunately, he can’t.
...
That same evening, an episode of "Brain Power Burst" was aired, and the show ended with a footage of Zhao Yi breaking the three-stage Rubik’s cube blindfold record.
"20 seconds 32!"
We congratulate Zhao Yi on his successful challenge, breaking the record for the three-stage Rubik’s cube blindfold challenge, but this is not the end...
The second time.
"13 seconds 09."
"An astounding time!"
"Zhao Yi! Zhao Yi! The creator of the Rubik’s cube calculator, is obviously an enthusiast with even better blindfold skills than professional players, no, he should be called the world’s number one!" freёweɓnovel.com
"Just over thirteen seconds, this record can be compared with the speed cube time."
"We see the record from the on-site notary that the cube Zhao Yi first used needed a minimum of twenty steps to restore, and the second time, nineteen steps. The two cubes he used can be said to have been in the most chaotic states."
"This achievement is worth its weight in gold!"
"The World Cube Association plans to establish regulations for players based on the results of the Rubik’s cube calculator. The three-stage Rubik’s cube recovery will no longer be a matter of luck, so we are certain, we dare to say..."
"The record set by Zhao Yi will be very hard to break in the future. Even the speed cube time will find it very challenging to surpass him!"
That’s the truth.
This day’s program also had a Rubik’s cube competition, which also used the Rubik’s cube calculator to determine the initial status. The program set the number of steps at 18 — not the most chaotic, but not easy, either.
The best performance among the three Rubik’s cube players was only 15 seconds.
Jia Hongning was also one of the contestants, and his best performance was just over 17 seconds. He could barely stand in front of the audience, because nobody applauded for him, he was on the verge of being eliminated from the show.
In fact, Jia Hongning’s skill wasn’t bad, ranking in the top hundred in the Rubik’s cube world, but he didn’t feel like he belonged on this show anymore.
In fact...
It wouldn’t be easy for him to continue to make a living in the Rubik’s cube world anymore.
Zhao Yi revolutionized the Rubik’s Cube competition three times and set an unbeatable blindfolded solving record.
Every time Jia Hongning’s name is mentioned, people think about his unprovoked provocations towards a computer genius like Zhao Yi, whose blindfolded solving skills even outshone his. From now on, at any Rubik’s Cube competition, the contestants, audience, and even the judges will recall this.
How can he carry on after this?
Ultimately, Jia Hongning was forced to step down. Unlike other contestants who leave amidst the applause of the audience, even his co-contestants did not want to continue standing with him on stage.
He was ostracized.
...
The broadcast of "Brain Power Burst" made Zhao Yi truly famous, with breaking the three-layered Rubik’s Cube blindfolded solving record being just one reason.
Most people don’t care about the blindfolded solving record.
Those who are not interested in Rubik’s Cube don’t even know such a category exists. Yet when Zhao Yi created the Rubik’s Cube calculator, some would think, "Isn’t it normal for him, a person dedicated to Rubik’s Cube research, to break the record?"
What really made Zhao Yi an internet sensation were the words he said to Kovalchik at the end.
"What would happen to the other competitors in the blindfolded solving category if all the records bore my name? Their professional pursuit might be breaking records, but I’ve made it impossible to break the records."
"I can’t do that – that would be too cruel!"
His words, coupled with his somewhat sorrowful expression, instantly caused an uproar on the internet. Many people expressed their admiration with comments like:
"Now that’s awesome!"
"I’m stumped!"
"Zhao Yi could break the record, but he chose not to. That’s a real winner. Such a minor Rubik’s Cube record means nothing!"
"After all, he isn’t a professional Rubik’s Cube player."
"If it were me, I would break as many records as possible..."
"All blindfold solving competitors should be thanking him. Without him, they wouldn’t have anything to strive for..."
"He’s a super genius in the Rubik’s Cube world. He shook up the game with his Rubik’s Cube calculator, and left some records unbroken to give others hope..."
Zhao Yi could only laugh when he read the public opinions online.
Some netizens’ comments were really amusing; they praised him as if he were a saint, and even turned him into emoticons that could be seen everywhere in the Penguin Chat Group.
He didn’t mind one bit.
He had simply been expressing his true feelings at that moment. Kovalchik reminded him that breaking records was meaningless. He was not a Rubik’s Cube professional, and breaking those records was not his pursuit, so there was no need to constantly create new records.
Feeling accomplished by breaking records with the assistance of the system was hard.
It wasn’t earned through hard work.
Moreover, breaking Guinness records only earned you a medal, and not even a single penny of prize money. Breaking one record for Research Coins was enough, and breaking more similar records wouldn’t bring much more Research or Study Coins.
So, that was enough.
Zhao Yi was now counting the gains from breaking the record--
[Academic Fame Increased!]
[Research Coin +4.]
[Academic Fame has increased, and Study Coin +100.]
As expected! freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
Breaking the record for blindfold solving of a Rubik’s Cube doesn’t yield many gains. There are only four Research Coins and one hundred Study Coins, even less than from hacking the iOS.
It makes sense.
After all, the system is about studying and researching, while Rubik’s Cube is a form of sport. The rewards are symbolic, probably because the ’blindfold solving’ is related to mnemonic abilities and gives some credit to his memory capacity.
However, in reality, the ability to memorise the colours of a Rubik’s Cube has little do with intelligence or memory capacity.
The memory used for the Rubik’s Cube is not real memory.
Training is key.
Some World Memory Championships events are similar to Rubik’s Cube memory, where even the most talented scientists find it hard to compete with contestants who have had long-term training. If certain tasks are practiced repeatedly, memory abilities and speed will definitely improve.
That’s an unrecognised memory ability.
