In the conference room of the Municipal Education Bureau, the teachers who set the exam papers were all frantically grading the students’ papers. The other papers had already been graded, and now, they were only left with the maths paper.
The speed they were grading at was very fast, and most of the papers held a constant percentage of being 80% blank. The teachers present could only give a burst of bitter laughter at that.
It was hard! Extremely difficult!
This math paper had exceeded the normal levels of the students, and the majority of the university entrance exams were not as hard as this, except for the ones in the year 1984 and 2003…
“Sigh! It’s like looking at a lost cause!” A random teacher said, heaving a heavy sigh as he quietly said, “For the students that I’m marking, the highest mark I’ve seen is only 52 marks, and that’s the highest I’ve seen so far.”
“52? That’s still fine!” Another teacher laughed and said, “You know, the papers I’ve graded, a lot of them submitted blank papers. They didn’t even bother to fill in the multiple-choice questions, I was so amazed…was filling in ABCD very hard? What if they managed to guess a few correctly?”
“No way! Look at this, another blank paper…” A female teacher pointed at the paper on her desk, huffing angrily.
All the teachers sighed. It was a depressing and disappointing fact as they continued to grade the papers. 21 marks, 31 marks, 41 marks, and even 0 marks. These teachers were numb already, there was no sight of any student that was able to score a passing grade.
After a long while, a teacher suddenly stood up in the quiet conference room, his left hand pointing at the paper on his desk, a horrified look on his face. “I…What…Oh my God!”
“???”
“???”
“???”
What happened?
Did the amount of blank papers they had received driven this teacher crazy?
“Mr. Zhang? Are…are you alright?” The female teacher that had previously complained asked, a concerned look on her face. “Do you need us to call 120?”
“No! I’ve met a top genius!” Mr. Zhang said, swallowing heavily. “This student…scored 146 marks!”
What?
146 marks?
Getting 146 marks on the toughest math paper in the history of the Ning District?
Everyone gathered around to look at the so-called genius’ paper, and sure enough, there was only one mistake. However, the question that was wrong had a rate of 50%, being able to score 146 marks was definitely a genius, how could they have made such a simple mistake?
Was it a deliberate mistake?
It was definitely done deliberately!
The teachers all reached the same conclusion—this student wanted to hide their true talent.
However…their acting was a bit obvious and clumsy.
“Yang Xiaoman!?”
“If it’s her, then it’s not a big surprise.” The female teacher said, checking the name and letting out a sigh at the same time. “For this student to obtain 146 marks, I’m not surprised. You’re all aware of the kind of student Yang Xiaoman is as well as some of her deeds.”
The other teachers all nodded their heads. This student was indeed quite well-known, not only for her achievements but also for the fact that her family was ranked quite high in the country.
This storm passed over quickly, and the long road of grading started up again. That was until a random teacher picked up Xu Mang’s paper, and the conference room descended into chaos once more!
***
On the internet, a lot of people were expressing their opinions on the math paper in the joint midterm exams. The majority of them were students who were mourning or complaining.
“Oh my God…luckily I have already graduated, otherwise, with my math talents, the ‘blank paper army’ may have a spot for me too.”
“I’m not bragging, but it’s okay even if I just get 10 marks on this paper!”
“Haha…you noob up there, I’m a man that has gone through the math paper in year 2003!”
“Oh my, the amazing year 2003! Sorry to burst your bubble…I’m one of the ones that passed the exams in the year 1984!”
Soon, what was meant to be an academic discussion slowly descended into a boasting war. It continued to escalate and develop into an insult session as the trolls and keyboard warriors continued to shoot each other, and it was as though a virtual war had broken out online.
At the same time, the One High’s principal—Mu Chaomei received a call in his office.
“Hello?”
“Old Mu, congrats, congrats!” The man on the other side of the phone exclaimed with a smile. “Your school has quite a math genius, wait…not one, two math geniuses!”
Math geniuses?
Two of them?
Mu Chaomei was taken aback. He knew how difficult the math paper was this round, and he asked curiously, “Is one of them Yang Xiaoman?”
“Eh? How did you know that?” The voice on the other side replied in surprise.
“…The entire world knows that!” Mu Chaomei replied, resisting the urge to hit his forehead on the table in front of him. “Who is the other one?”
“Uh…I just know that Yang Xiaoman is one of them, they haven’t said who the other one is, I only know that it’s a student from your school…” The man laughed nervously. “Anyway, it will be in the papers delivered to the schools tomorrow, you will know then. Oh right, there’s another thing I wanted to discuss with you.”
Pausing for a while, probably just for a dramatic effect, he continued, “Your school has a student that handed in five blank papers, that’s some daring move there!” The man on the line laughed teasingly. “That broke the last record of the student from Nine High that handed in four, your school is famous in the education circle now! Slowly stew in your anger, old friend, I’m hanging up first then, hahaha!”
The call was cut off then, and Mu Chaomei stared at the phone in his hand, his heart plummeting into a chilling cold at those last words.
“XU MANG!!!”
***
Xu Mang stood in front of the principal, slightly nervous and cautious. He didn’t remember doing anything that warranted this visit. His class teacher had called him out, it looked as though something was about to happen today!
“Have you been doing well recently?” Mu Chaomei asked absent-mindedly, carrying on with his own work.
“Err…not so bad.” Xu Mang said carefully, nodding his head.
“Hmm…” Mu Chaomei put down his pen, finally raising his head to look at Xu Mang in the eye. “How was the exam this time?”
“Also not bad!” Xu Mang said, smiling. “Could be said that it was super great.”
“Oh, really? Super great?” Mu Chaomei repeated blankly. “Are you sure?”
“Positive!” Xu Mang replied, serious tone and all.
At those words, Mu Chaomei felt slightly depressed. Logically, if it was any other student, under his forceful tone, they would have wilted and given in to the pressure he was putting forth. However, against Xu Mang, this trick had no effect at all. It may even backfire on him instead, and this…made him somewhat too tired to think of it.
Was it necessary to use more forceful tendencies to wrangle a miracle out of Xu Mang?
Bang!
“Still don’t want to admit the truth!?”
Mu Chaomei suddenly stood up, slamming the table with his hands. Looking at Xu Mang, whose eyes had gone wide at the sudden turn, he demanded, “What was that in the midterm exams!?”
Looking at the angry face of the principal, Xu Mang knew that it was a day where escape would not be possible. Let’s not talk about escaping with his skin intact, it looked like he wouldn’t be able to escape from copying the school rules either. Based on past experiences, he would probably have to copy it five hundred times.
Wait a minute!
He remembered that there was a skill…what was it called…Survival Instinct Skill, right?
Maybe he could use it to survive now!
Opening the interface, he found the said skill.
Survival Instinct Skill = 120
‘System, can I use this to leave this office in one piece?’
[System has detected, to leave this office safely will require: 100 points (Survival Instinct Skill)]
Pay!
Xu Mang was quick to decide.
Ring, ring, ring!
At this time, the phone on the office desk rang. Mu Chaomei glanced at the caller ID and beckoned for Xu Mang to leave. “Leave, leave. And close the door on your way out!”
“Ah? Oh…” Xu Mang walked out of the office and closed the door.
“Hello? What is it? I’m busy educating students!” The caller was his own wife, and Mu Chaomei answered impatiently. “If you have anything, say it quickly!”
“Eh? Oh…I called the wrong number.”
Upon saying that, she hung up the call.
Mu Chaomei stood rooted to the spot, the phone still in his hand as he was dumbfounded by it. What the hell was going on…why was it that God loved Xu Mang so much?
He had escaped once again!