"Don''t you dare spout such nonsense!" Byron''s authority was being challenged, and he was furious. "If you can''t answer, then sit down and stop talking rubbish."


    "The problem states a hash table HT with a length of 5, initially empty. The hash function is H(k) = (k+4) % 5, and it uses linear probing to resolve collisions. A sequence of keys is inserted, and then a key is deleted..."


    Everyone stared nkly. Juniper''s exnation was like a foreignnguage to the other students. Hash what? Key what? The words were familiar on their own, but strung together like that, they were utterly alien. Had their Goddess been taking a different ss? How did she know so much? Had Tucker been giving her private lessons?


    "How can the key you''re deleting be 26?" Juniper continued, her tone calm and clear. "With that number, it''s impossible to calcte the average search length for a failed lookup."


    She paused, letting the information sink in before adding, "However, if you change the number to 25, you get a clean result of 10. Alternatively, changing the modulus in the hash function from 5 to 6 would also lead to one of the multiple-choice answers."


    Byron listened, quickly re-calcting in his head based on Juniper''s suggestions. To his astonishment, she was right. Following her logic, one of the provided answers was achievable.


    But with the original problem, the calcted answer wasn''t among the options. It waspletely absurd to give students an unsolvable problem. And he had the audacity to use it to test her?


    "Professor Byron, if you don''t believe me, we can ask another professor to take a look," Juniper said, just as she spotted Tucker walking past the ssroom door. "In fact, Professor Tucker is right outside."


    Hearing his name, Tucker instinctively stopped and peered into the room.


    "Tucker, do you think there''s a problem with this question?" one of the students, eager for some drama, called out before Byron could object.


    "Huh?" Tucker pushed up his reading sses and nced at the board "Oh, that one. You just have to- change the deleted number to 25, and the answer is 10. Otherwise, you can''t solve it."


    Every student in the room turned to look at Byron, trying their best to suppress theirughter. He had been So smugly talking down about Tucker yet Tucker had spotted the problem in less than a minute. Had Byron really not noticed it all this time? He must not have. Otherwise, why would he have so arrogantly


    used it to try and trip up their Goddess?


    "Of course I knew it was wed," Byron snapped, shutting hisptop screen with a


    thud. He tried to soundposed. "This was also a way of testing you."


    A collective eye-roll went through the ssroom. Everyone knew he


    was lying, but they weren''t about to


    >


    call him out on it. After all, angering him could mean failing the course.


    "Professor Byron, do you have any other questions for me?" Juniper asked, standing perfectly straight, the very picture of a respectful and polite model student.


    Byron red at her, grinding his teeth. Finally, he forced out two words: "No, I don''t."


    If he kept this up, who knew what other ridiculous mistakes the damn girl would find. But how could she, a new freshman, know so much? Had Tucker been tutoring her privately?


    Even so, it wouldn''t exin this level of proficiency.


    Byron stared at the back of Juniper''s head, ovee with the urge to crack it open and see what was inside.