The terrified assistant quickly ducked his head and flashed a covert "OK" sign.
The final segment was a rapid-fire buzzer round. The emcee triggered the screen, and Leo slammed his buzzer, instantly blurting out the answer before he could even register what the question was.
The judges eagerly slapped down a massive score for him.
When the next question popped up, Caleb hit his buzzer to answer, but his microphone was completely dead.
He easily could have answered the first question too, but without a working mic, his voice was completely drowned out by the crowd.
Leo buzzed in on the second question as well, securing yet another wildly inflated score.
But when the third question appeared, Leo froze. He didn't recognize this one at all. Had his mom told him it was A, B, C, or D?
Warren, having no clue how to solve the advanced equations, had officially bowed out. But he refused to just stand by and watch this blatant corruption unfold. That Leo kid clearly had the entire event rigged in his favor.
He had seen Leo's uncle order someone to cut Caleb's mic, completely shutting him out of the round.
Completely disgusted by the horribly rigged competition, Warren marched straight over to Caleb and shoved his own working microphone into the boy's hands.
"You've got this, kid," he said, offering an encouraging nod. "I know you can win this."
Caleb accepted the microphone, offering a polite, grateful nod. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Just watch out for that Leo kid. The whole thing is definitely rigged for him."
Having delivered his warning, Warren calmly walked off the stage. No matter what happened now, he had solidly secured third place.
With a working mic, Caleb instantly dominated the next two questions, flawlessly tying his score with Leo's.
Wesley was practically sweating bullets. Terrified his nephew was about to lose, he shot another frantic, demanding glare at the assistant.
He silently ordered him to pull up an impossible question, signal the answer to him, and he would relay it to Leo.
No matter what vile tricks he had to pull, his nephew was walking out of here a champion!
Leo was furious, actively glaring daggers at everyone on stage. Luckily, his uncle's frantic pacing blocked the audience from seeing his vicious little tantrum.


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