Chapter 834 - 853: Jiang Qiuqiu, Withdrawing from the Competition!?

The scene remained in the observation room.

Today, the interview team had finally managed to question Rose Dean, the most outspoken of all the deans. After a brief interview, a variety of explosive remarks were successfully recorded.

Today’s KPI was met.

The team members exchanged glances and began filming the ranking board.

But as they filmed, Xiao Xiao suddenly asked, "Is this ranking currently updated in real time?"

"Of course," one of the deans replied. "Once the chart is active, it updates in real time."

"The first-place student in this fourth column—it seems the numbers under her name haven’t changed since we started filming."

This first-place student was Jiang Qiuqiu.

The observation room fell silent for a moment. This sudden quiet made Xiao Xiao feel as if she had asked the wrong question.

However, the silence didn’t last long, as another dean quickly answered, "That’s because Jiang Qiuqiu has withdrawn from the competition."

"Withdrawn!?"

After her voice cracked from the shock, Xiao Xiao realized she might have lost her composure. She coughed lightly and said, "My apologies. Our interview team just interviewed Jiang Qiuqiu yesterday. How did she... withdraw today?"

This withdrawal came far too suddenly. They wondered if she had injured herself by overdrawing her spiritual power. But that didn’t seem likely either; she had been in such great spirits yesterday.

Doubt clouded the team.

Dean Zhu was the one who had approved her leave request. He chimed in to explain, "This practical activity is being held as a competition to stimulate the students’ interest in learning."

As for Jiang Qiuqiu, she had already grasped the beliefs and knowledge this joint practical activity aimed to convey. Therefore, she had essentially completed the activity ahead of time. Under this premise, the chief examiner allowed her to take a leave of absence to do other things, which was why she directly withdrew from the competition.

However, withdrawing from the competition did not invalidate her scores. Jiang Qiuqiu’s results would still remain on the board to compete against the rest of the participants.

It was just that she was no longer eligible for the prizes.

Then again, Qiuqiu didn’t need the prizes anyway.

Xiao Xiao’s team was completely dumbfounded.

After leaving the observation room and turning off the cameras, Xiao Xiao walked along the path in a daze.

"Just like that, she’s gone?" she muttered.

So much for explosive content. So much for an in-depth, comprehensive feature shoot. Yesterday’s marketing had gone incredibly viral. They had originally planned to ride the wave of that momentum, but was this it?! She was just gone?

Wait. No.

Xiao Xiao pondered it deeply. "Even if she withdrew from the competition, she shouldn’t have left this planet yet.

"The number of Teleportation Mecha on Q3 is pitifully low. The organizers wouldn’t borrow one from the government just for a single student; the energy consumption would be astronomical...

"Jiang Qiuqiu should still have to return with the rest of the students. She must still be on this planet."

That was the only way the logic made sense.

After thinking it over, Xiao Xiao still wasn’t willing to let go of the trending topic. "During the interviews later, let’s go ask Jiang Qiuqiu’s roommates and see if she is in the dorms."

They could also see if the roommates knew about Jiang Qiuqiu’s movements.

Having decided on their next steps, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. Relaxing, Xiao Xiao thought about how Jiang Qiuqiu had said yesterday that she didn’t care about first place at all. It turned out she was telling the truth.

She left just like that, without leaving any room for negotiation.

Meanwhile, the tense filming continued on their end.

Over at the factory, Little President Qian quickly dropped a suspended container module, assembling a large kitchen for Jiang Qiuqiu. All the vegetables from the factory and the previously prepared food were piled up in the workshop behind the kitchen.

The kitchen was fully stocked with cooking utensils that Jiang Qiuqiu found handy. Not only that, but Little President Qian also assigned several robot butlers to serve as her assistants.

To Jiang Qiuqiu, this entire setup equated to one word.

Efficiency.