A’Diao grew up in the mountains and had always seen complex natural scenery. However, it wasn’t the first time she had seen a place like Jinling Academy, where architecture blended magnificently with nature.
At least the Jinling Shipyard had given her a great shock.
However, Jinling Academy was different; you knew what it signified.
It was a cradle, a cradle for the strong.
The toilet reminded her of many ultra-low-level or low-level conquerable targets, and occasionally medium-level ones. But there were too many people, making it impossible to distinguish who was who. It was too noisy, so A’Diao simply had it filter the notification threshold to stop it from constantly ringing.
A’Diao stood in the long, dragon-like queue, looking up at the main gate, a surging ambition rising in her heart: This school… the students and teachers inside must be highly talented. Making them angry would surely explode a lot of Mental Energy! I must get in!
The kind of scene often depicted in TV dramas—where, outside an examination venue, students and parents openly look down on and mock a rustic-looking protagonist, only to be proven wrong later in a “don’t bully the young and poor” face-slapping moment—did not play out.
Because those who dared to apply to Jinling Academy and had passed the initial document screening generally had decent academic records and a certain level of intelligence. Therefore, these people wouldn’t offend others without understanding their background.
Before the exam results were out, all risks had to be eliminated.
“Go for it, sweetie! In Mommy’s eyes, you’re the best!”
“Daddy loves you the most! If you pass, a sports car is arranged!”
When it was the turn of the people queuing ahead, their families either cheered them on or comforted them, each in their own way. But A’Diao simply swiped her ID card and went in.
Upon entering, her vision was filled with dazzling colors. She was surrounded by young people of about the same age. A’Diao, carrying her backpack, looked around and noticed that the exam time hadn’t arrived yet. So, she didn’t join the people rushing about and instead took out the pan-fried buns from her backpack, preparing to fill her stomach.
Suddenly, a hovering fat bee whizzed past her eyes.
It was truly fat, Corgi-sized, chubby, with a gold and black body. Its thin, cicada-like wings buzzed as it flew through the air. It circled A’Diao twice, its front claws holding a small loudspeaker that broadcast in a childlike voice: “One hour until the exam starts, one hour. Do not run around. Please gather within the yellow circle. Going outside the yellow circle will be considered forfeiting the exam.”
Whoa!
Many people hurriedly gathered in the Ginkgo Square directly inside the main gate.
There were quite a few such bees, forty to fifty of them, buzzing around, herding and reminding the thousands of incoming examinees.
Was it a spiritual creature?
No, it was a realistic mechanical flyer, lifelike, with numerous functions—a highly intelligent mechanical carrier.
It was too realistic, even emitting a faint fragrance, as if it were real.
It was just too fat.
A’Diao remembered that such bees sold for 500,000 Star Coins each on Taobao.
Two of them could buy a low-grade small spaceship.
Wealthy and extravagant.
A’Diao was shocked, but soon wondered why this particular fat bee was circling her.
Had she broken a rule? No, right? Don’t tell me there’s some trouble again!
“You can eat breakfast and drink beverages, but no littering… Miss, I can sense your satiety level is 100%. So why are you eating two pan-fried buns? And crab roe flavored ones at that.”
As it spoke, many people’s gazes swished towards A’Diao.
Fuck!
None of your business what I’m eating!
A’Diao felt frustrated internally but didn’t dare offend the fat bee. On the surface, she said obediently, “You’re mistaken, I’m hungry.”
Fat Bee: “No, you’re not hungry.”
A’Diao: “I am hungry.”
Fat Bee: “Look at the data on my belly. You’re really not hungry.”
It leaned back, puffing out its yellow-and-black striped abdomen, which indeed displayed data.
100% satiety.
It can even measure that?
A’Diao suffered a critical hit. Noticing the surrounding people craning their necks to watch the commotion, she had no choice but to continue, “I’m too thin, I need to nourish myself.”
Fat Bee: “With your short, winter-melon-like height, this weight isn’t considered thin. Trust me, don’t eat. You need a balanced diet, or it will affect your exam.”
Damn it, short is one thing, but winter melon too.
If you called me a short loofah, I could accept that.
A’Diao was speechless, but smelling the aroma of the pan-fried buns, she really didn’t want to give up. “But I’ve already bought them…”
Fat Bee: “Give them to me. I’ll take care of them for you. You focus on your exam, okay?”
It was really too annoying, and A’Diao didn’t want to offend it, so she reluctantly handed them over.
Damn it all! The most expensive breakfast from Flowing Light Hotel! Two pan-fried buns cost 100 Star Coins!
After the fat bee took the pan-fried buns, it quickly flew away—yes, much faster than before.
Seeing this, the others silently avoided the bees, eating their breakfast further away.
A’Diao: Fuck, I feel like I’ve been tricked! So angry!
Before long, they indeed ended up in someone’s mouth.
Two stuffed into the mouth at once.
“Delicious, truly delicious. This little girl knows how to eat, and seems quite rich. I wonder what she’ll eat for lunch.”
Zhou Jiang, smacking his lips and crossing his legs, watched the surveillance monitor while asking the teachers below about the preparations.
The teachers, furious but not daring to speak out against this person’s shameless act of tricking an examinee out of her breakfast, could only secretly pity the girl.
Hopefully, she could pass the assessment. If not, it would be too much of a loss.
Later, one of the legends about Jinling Academy was: a certain exceptionally talented, monstrous student in history had two expensive crab roe pan-fried buns tricked away from her on the morning of the first day of exams.
Qishan County High.
The clock on the wall ticked. Huang Weimin looked at the throng of students outside coming to register for the exams. Besides the original students, there were many from other counties and other local high schools.
Because of this upheaval, the entire educational order was disrupted. Some aimed high, some yearned to leap the dragon gate, while others were knocked off their pedestals due to certain incidents.
In the eyes of many students and parents, A’Diao belonged to the latter category.
Originally, that’s what they thought. Later… just an hour ago, after being repeatedly “critically hit” by A’Diao, many people, while indignant, still speculated that she would at least struggle to achieve anything academically. The best outcome would be to delay for a year and reapply.
But by then, she would have already missed the optimal development period.
However, what they didn’t know was—in all of Qishan, perhaps only he, Huang Weimin, knew which school A’Diao had actually applied to.
Huang Weimin, holding a thermos flask with goji berries, looked at the academic records database before him. A copy of the data had been exported, mainly due to an official letter from Jinling Academy, sent directly through the Ministry of Education, to retrieve the academic data. It hadn’t passed through him, but as the class teacher, he had compiled these records himself, so he knew.
He also knew how difficult it was to get into Jinling Academy.
From a small place like Qishan, no one had been admitted for ten consecutive years.
Not a single one.
This was when they only considered academic scores. Now, besides academic performance, other qualifications were also assessed, and they had to compete for spots with countless elite students from Danzhou. The difficulty was even higher.
Huang Weimin was an educator and knew the high value of Jinling Academy’s education. Therefore, he wouldn’t be rashly confident about A’Diao. But faintly, after being amused by A’Diao in group chats and on his Moments, a sense of anticipation arose in him.
Her academic scores should be satisfactory, right? After all, she mostly got full marks. The few instances where she didn’t were mostly new types of questions. She never attended cram schools or online courses, so naturally, she wouldn’t understand these questions. But for any type of question she had gotten wrong once, she never made the same mistake again.
Perhaps she was a pearl lost in a desolate, small place, her brilliance dulled by Qishan. Going to a place like Jinling might allow her to shine brightly.
An hour later, the school registration period ended. Everyone had entered the school, a total of three thousand people.
The “pearl” A’Diao was bored, squatting under a ginkgo tree, poking at ants.
Some said Jinling was Danzhou’s Jinling, and Danzhou was also Jinling’s Danzhou; herein lay the significance of a provincial capital. Thus, among the three thousand people taking Jinling Academy’s unified entrance exam this time, some came from various parts of Danzhou. Moreover, because they had already undergone an academic record review during application, although the passing standard was unknown, at least there didn’t seem to be any particularly terrible slackers.
These students from various places were not in a hurry to interact with those around them—likely instructed by their families to wait until after the initial exams had sifted through the candidates. Only when they had a rough idea of who among themselves and others might remain would they try to build connections. Otherwise, it would be ineffective socializing, meaningless.
“Time’s up. Please follow the arrow markers on the yellow circles,” the fat bee came to remind them.
A’Diao picked up her tattered backpack and put it on. Looking obedient and rustic, she wasn’t within anyone’s social targets and appeared quite lonely. She walked towards the sports ground amidst the dense crowd and soon discovered the destination was a large sports ground.
She was puzzled at that moment… So crude?
The exam is just running? Isn’t this an ancient testing method? Even the first generation didn’t use such methods.
To think she had previously assumed this exam would be more refined and advanced, perhaps using instruments to test aptitude, which should be simple. Why did it look like it required physical exertion?
A’Diao’s steps faltered for a moment. She thought to herself that many people must be much more panicked than her. After all, compared to her, who had been running in the mountains since childhood, these people who had spent their earlier years studying in “greenhouses” wouldn’t have good physical fitness. Even if they had intentionally trained recently, there would still be a gap. The truly formidable ones were those who had undergone Spiritual Energy transformation in a short period—similar to her.
But such people should have already been pre-selected, right?
A’Diao heard sounds and looked towards the buildings outside the sports ground, noticing figures moving about in the teaching buildings and dormitories.
Understood. Those must be the pre-selected students, also the original students of Jinling Academy.
“They don’t need to take the exam?”
“Nonsense. They are all former students. The outstanding ones are pre-selected. Only the not-so-good ones come to take the exam.”
Someone right next to A’Diao was discussing this. As soon as she heard it, she inwardly cursed, wishing she could immediately cover their mouth, but it was too late. Someone had already heard.
“You’d better think clearly before you speak.” A tall young man swept a cold gaze over them and sneered, “The resurgence of Spiritual Energy has indeed brought changes, giving opportunities to many who originally couldn’t get into Jinling Academy. This is fate, nothing to argue about. But to start bossing things around before even stepping one foot inside, truly confident.”
He was clearly someone from Jinling Academy. His words made many people on A’Diao’s side blush, and the few who had started the discussion were even more embarrassed, but also angry.
“Stop mocking us! If you weren’t born with Jinling household registration, enjoying advantages and having the best resources since childhood, if we were talking about a truly fair chance of entering the academy, we might not be weaker than you!”
“Exactly! It was one thing that we didn’t get in before, but the resurgence of Spiritual Energy is an opportunity. Why mock us like this? If you’re really so capable, why come and take the exam with us? Just get pre-selected, wouldn’t that be enough?”
The topic itself concerned two naturally irreconcilable camps—the academy’s internal students and the external examinees—not to mention the issue of educational resources related to regional household registration. A’Diao felt this kind of argument was quite dangerous; it could easily implicate innocent bystanders. So, she immediately moved further away.
Suddenly, before the academy person, who had been angered by the retort, could argue back, someone else spoke up.
“So, in your view, the original academy students participating in this exam must be those eliminated from internal selection?”
“Then I’m sorry, you’re not the only ones who want to seize the opportunity to ascend. There are also us, the first and second-year high school students.”
Everyone’s gaze swished over. They saw a fair-skinned, slender, and refined-looking young man with a cool expression, crushing the external examinees with the calmest tone.
“As long as the grades and aptitude meet the requirements, entering the third year of high school early and taking the college entrance exam early is no big deal. Unlike all of you… so impatient and anxious.”
The external examinees were in turn made to feel extremely awkward by the sarcasm, but also terrified.
If it were just competition with Jinling Academy’s original third-year students, they could still console themselves with the reasoning that those students might be applying because their aptitude didn’t meet the academy’s requirements—they would still have a fighting chance.
But now it seemed that the top geniuses from the academy’s first and second years were also applying?
Looking at their demeanor, full of vigor and confidence, they were clearly the cream of the crop among the lower grades. These people were all prospective candidates for top universities, having long mastered all high school knowledge points, and many were even competition students.
They were clearly a group of underclassmen, one or two years younger, yet they exerted immense pressure on the external examinees present.
And in an instant, because of a few people’s loose tongues, all the applying students from within Jinling Academy banded together, opposing the group of external examinees… For someone like A’Diao, who didn’t want to cause trouble, this was simply an undeserved disaster.
How stupid! Regardless of how those people got into the academy before—whether due to family background or their own aptitude—they were originally the elites screened from the Danzhou region. What good would offending them now do?
A’Diao was rendered completely exasperated by those few bigmouths. What was worse, some of the pre-selected Jinling Academy students observing from the building probably also learned about the situation here. Suddenly, someone made an announcement over a broadcast.
“Junior brothers and sisters, go for it! Your senior brothers and sisters will always support you.”
“Fellow students, we support you!”
“Go for it!”
It’s over. These people’s original classmates were starting to protect their own.
This was also normal. Protecting one’s own was a kind of “political correctness” in itself. Moreover, these people were originally students who had legitimately passed the exams to enter the academy. Now, because of the resurgence of Spiritual Energy, those who previously lacked the ability to enter the school had a chance to squeeze out their classmates’ positions. Naturally, they felt uncomfortable.
If you hadn’t said anything, it would have been fine. They could have slowly integrated after getting in. Now that all pretenses were dropped, the conflict had intensified, directly creating a difficult situation of “being ostracized” for these external examinees—ostracized before even getting in. Where could they go to reason?
Only a very few didn’t care; most people were still uneasy.
After feeling helpless, A’Diao prepared to set these matters aside and focus on waiting for the exam. However, she saw the external examinee who had been previously ridiculed, now feeling embarrassed and dejected under the reproachful gazes of other examinees, suddenly stare at A’Diao and say, “You dodged quickly enough just now, didn’t you? You must be eager to dissociate from us to curry favor with those Jinling Academy people.”
His question instantly attracted the attention of both sides. Many people started looking at A’Diao differently. This traitor! Coward!
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