A month before the college entrance examination, Luo Feng devoted nearly all his energy to revision. As the revision progressed and with each round of mock tests, Luo Feng’s confidence in the college entrance exam grew stronger and stronger.
“Admission to Jiangnan’s top military academy is as good as certain.”
This was Luo Feng’s inner thought.
…
On the seventh day of June dawned the inaugural trial of the Celestial Gaokai. Across the mystic lands of Huaxia, this grand scholarly crucible spanned three sacred days—the seventh, eighth, and ninth of the Sixth Moon—unchanged since the primordial era before the Great Phoenix Rebirth.
Yi’an District’s First High School.
According to the examination arrangement, Luo Feng, a student from the Third High School, was scheduled to take the exam at the First High School.
“Sweetheart, keep up the good work.”
“Don’t worry, Dad.”
“Sweetie, don’t push yourself too hard.”
…
Outside the gates of the First High School, a dense crowd of examinees and their families had gathered. Outside the school’s main entrance stood a line of armed police officers, each carrying a real firearm.
“Xiao Feng, stay relaxed during the exam. Even if you don’t get into the top military academy, the second one is fine too. Just take it easy!” Luo Hongguo, Luo Feng’s father, said with a cheerful smile as he looked at his son.
“Mm.” Luo Feng nodded with a smile.
“Beep—beep—” With a loud car horn, a brand new, pitch-black Mercedes S600, exuding an air of nobility, slowly approached the entrance of the First High School, escorted by several police motorcycles. The surrounding examinees and parents immediately stepped aside, their gazes all drawn to the vehicle.
The newest Mercedes S600 could rocket from 0 to 100 km/h in a mere 1.6 seconds, boasting a staggering top speed of 500 km/h. Naturally, such performance wasn’t particularly noteworthy. What truly set the Mercedes S600 apart was its profound historical lineage – a marque inherited since the Great Nirvana Era.
Three people stepped out of the Mercedes S600 and walked toward the school gate while chatting casually.
“The bald one on the left is Director Zhang from the Yi’an District Police Department.”
“The one on the right must be Director Liu from the Education Bureau.”
“The one in the middle must be the martial artist responsible for overall exam security.” The crowd of parents and examinees outside the exam venue murmured in discussion. Most of their gazes were fixed on the central figure, their eyes filled with excitement, admiration, and curiosity.
Nowadays, the battle between humans and monsters continued relentlessly.
Ordinary citizens were forbidden from leaving the city limits, while martial artists were those capable of engaging in one-on-one combat with monsters. The entire human society held martial artists in deep gratitude for their immense contributions to humanity. Naturally, ordinary people greatly admired martial artists.
Martial artists belonged to a group of people with an exalted status in human society.
“That’s a martial artist,” Luo Hongguo also looked at the figure. “Every year, the overall security commander for the college entrance exam is a martial artist.”
“A martial artist.”
Luo Feng looked over. The martial artist gave off an aura that made one’s heart race. His eyes resembled the cold, venomous gaze of a snake. He remained expressionless all the way, barely acknowledging the police chief and the education bureau director with the occasional indifferent nod.
“In the not-so-distant future, I will also earn the title of martial artist!” Luo Feng silently vowed in his heart.
“Clack-clack~~~”
The gates of the First High School slowly creaked open.
“It’s time to enter.” A chorus of voices quickly followed.
“Xiao Feng, it’s time to go in. hurry up.” Luo Hongguo urged. Beside him, his mother, Gong Xinlan, also said, “Go on, I’ll go home and cook for you. Your father and younger brother will wait for you here after the exam.”
“Mm.”
Luo Feng smiled and nodded.
“Brother.” Luo Hua, seated in a wheelchair, raised his fist toward Luo Feng with a slight smile. “Make sure to do your best!”
“Good luck.” Luo Feng also raised his fist.
Then Luo Feng turned his head and, together with the crowd of examinees, passed through the school gates after inspection.
…
Inside the examination classroom, the exam permit and ID card were placed at the top right corner of the desk for the invigilator’s inspection, and the exam papers were then distributed.
“2056 Jiangnan City College Entrance Exam Science Paper A”—this line of text clearly appeared at the top of the paper.
“The first exam is the science test!”
Looking at the paper in front of him, Luo Feng quickly scanned it and glanced at the last few major questions, which seemed vaguely familiar. “This year’s questions shouldn’t be too difficult. If the questions aren’t hard, my advantage in the science subjects won’t be fully displayed. I need to be careful and work through each question meticulously, making sure I don’t lose points on the ones I know how to solve.”
Without hesitation, Luo Feng began to focus on writing.
…
The college entrance exam consisted of three tests: the science exam, the liberal arts exam, and finally the mathematics exam. Each subject had a maximum score of 250 points, making the total maximum score 750.
The science exam covered a comprehensive mix of physics, chemistry, and biology.
The liberal arts exam was a comprehensive mix of Chinese, history, politics, and geography.
The mathematics exam, naturally, was focused solely on mathematics.
After the Great Nirvana Era in human history, especially amidst the endless wars between mankind and monstrous creatures, humanity had fervently pursued breakthroughs in both scientific technology and martial cultivation. This relentless struggle made people increasingly aware of the paramount importance of mathematics. Those who aspired to achieve greatness in fields like computer science, biology, or physics required an unshakable foundation in mathematical mastery.
Therefore—
In cultural education, mathematics had gained a very high status. Luo Feng was slightly weaker in the liberal arts but held a significant advantage in mathematics.
…
June 7th—the science exam.
June 8th—the liberal arts exam.
In the blink of an eye, it was already June 9th.
…
Inside the examination hall, the mathematics exam papers had just been distributed.
“This is the last one—the mathematics exam.” Luo Feng took a deep breath. “The science paper wasn’t too hard, and I think I did well. I also performed normally in the liberal arts exam. In other words, both the science and liberal arts exams should fall within my normal performance range. As long as I don’t mess up too badly in the mathematics exam, I’m definitely getting into Jiangnan’s top military academy.”
“Come on!”
Encouraging himself, Luo Feng began to lower his head and work on the problems.
The entire examination hall was silent. Many examinees furrowed their brows, clearly finding the questions difficult. Every year, the college entrance mathematics exam was generally quite challenging. After all, it was meant to select future scientific research talents.
“Man, this is really tough,” Luo Feng also felt the difficulty of the questions. “It’s even harder than previous years! But… the harder, the better!”
If the questions were easy, even those worse at math might score around 220, while Luo Feng might only get about 230. His advantage would be minimal.
But if the questions were difficult,
Luo Feng might only score 210, while those worse than him might only get 150. In that case, his advantage would be significant.
“Snap!” A crisp sound suddenly echoed.
The invigilator immediately looked over and saw a candidate who had actually snapped his ballpoint pen in frustration. The examinee furrowed his brow and gritted his teeth, staring intensely at the paper, clearly overwhelmed by the difficulty of the math problems. Then, he threw the broken pen aside, took out another ballpoint pen, and continued answering the questions.
“Just by looking at the examinees’ expressions, this year’s math exam must be really tough,” the invigilator mused inwardly.
Indeed, almost everyone in the examination hall was frowning and thinking hard. Many examinees were so anxious that tears streamed down their faces.
Students with weak math foundations felt… unable to solve the first question, the second question, and even the third question. Facing such a paper, these students were almost on the verge of collapse.
…
An hour later, inside the examination hall.
The total time for the mathematics exam was two and a half hours.
At this point, Luo Feng had already completed the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank sections and was left only with the calculation problems. In the math exam, the total score for the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank sections combined was only 90 points. The calculation problems consisted of five major questions, worth 160 points altogether. After all, only through comprehensive calculation problems could a student’s mathematical ability be better assessed.
“Wow, it’s really tough. I couldn’t even figure out two blanks in the fill-in-the-blank section,” Luo Feng took a deep breath. “Now it’s time for the calculation problems, which are the key to scoring. Completing one more question means a difference of thirty or forty points!”
Among the five calculation problems, the first four were each worth thirty points, while the last one was worth forty points.
“Hmm?” Luo Feng encountered difficulties right at the first calculation problem.
On the draft paper, Luo Feng continuously calculated and thought.
“Right, if I slightly transform this and reverse it, I can convert it into the required equation!” Luo Feng’s eyes lit up. Swish! Swish! Swish! Once he cracked the problem, it became much easier to write down the solution. He wrote it out in one smooth motion and then carefully checked it again.
“Okay, the first question is done successfully.” Luo Feng glanced at his watch on his left wrist and his heart skipped a beat. “I spent twenty minutes on the first question? I need to speed up.”
Luo Feng lowered his head and looked at the second question.
At first glance, Luo Feng thought it was easy and immediately began working on it on the draft paper.
“Hmm, no, this approach doesn’t work at all.” Luo Feng realized his thinking was completely off track and immediately furrowed his brow in thought. As time passed, Luo Feng continued to delve deeper into this problem. “Right, it should be like this. But how do I verify the next proof?” At this point, Luo Feng’s mind was racing with thoughts.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry! I can’t waste too much time on this question. How do I prove this?” Luo Feng felt increasingly anxious.
At this moment—
The watch on Luo Feng’s left wrist displayed the rising number for ‘pulse.’
120… 125… 130… 140… 150…
“Just a little more, and I’ll have proven this proposition. Thirty points will be mine. But how do I proceed here?” Luo Feng grew more and more impatient. Time management was crucial during an exam, but each calculation problem in the math section carried significant weight. Every college entrance exam candidate aiming for a good score couldn’t afford to make too many mistakes on the big math questions.
At this point, Luo Feng, completely absorbed in solving the exam questions, didn’t notice the pulse reading on his watch.
160… 170… 180…
Luo Feng felt his heartbeat quickening, but he merely assumed it was due to the pressure and anxiety of the exam and didn’t pay much attention.
“Thud! Thud! Thud!” Suddenly, Luo Feng felt as if his heart were being struck, his vision blurring momentarily, which startled him. “What’s wrong with me? Why does my heart feel so uncomfortable?” Luo Feng looked down at the pulse reading on his watch—
230!
This number made Luo Feng’s face change drastically. Since his coma at the age of twelve and the subsequent purchase of this watch, Luo Feng had never seen his heart rate exceed 180.
“So painful.” Luo Feng felt his heart pounding as if it were about to leap out of his chest. Under the continuous expansion and contraction of his power source—the heart—massive surges of blood rushed through his body, and invisible, imperceptible streams of energy surged deep into Luo Feng’s brain. Instantly, a sharp pain shot through his mind—
“Ahh, ahh.” Luo Feng couldn’t help but cry out.
“What’s wrong with this examinee?” The invigilator hurried over in shock, staring at Luo Feng.
At this moment, Luo Feng’s face was flushed red, as if it were about to drip blood. Veins on his forehead and arms bulged and throbbed, making him look extremely grotesque.
“No, no—slow down, slow down!” Luo Feng sensed something was terribly wrong and roared inwardly, his eyes fixed on the watch.
“236… 242… 251…!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
His heart sounded like a massive drum, emitting a series of deep, rumbling sounds as blood surged rapidly.
As his vision blurred and he saw the number ‘268,’ the intense pain in his head caused Luo Feng to instantly lose consciousness. As he fainted, he vaguely heard a voice—
“This examinee, this examinee, wake up, wake up. Hurry, call an ambulance quickly!”
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