Oh My, My Kid Got Admitted Early by Accident!

The snide voice stabbed at Li Guangming's heart, which had sunk to rock bottom.

Zhang Jianguo walked over with his arms crossed and circled the dejected Li Guangming.

"So this is that... peerless prodigy you said would amaze the world with a single brilliant feat?"

Zhang Jianguo clicked his tongue, placing heavy emphasis on "amaze the world with a single brilliant feat." "What happened? He went in, took a look around, and came right back out? That feat was a little too quick, wasn't it? The promising students from our school are all still in there!"

When the teachers from the other schools heard this, they cast gloating looks his way, and quiet snickers rose and fell around him.

Li Guangming's face was deathly pale, and his lips trembled. He couldn't hear any of the mockery.

His mind was blank, filled with nothing but endless regret and self-reproach.

Had he pushed too hard?

Had his words put too much pressure on the boy and driven him to break down?

He rushed over to Chen Fan in a few long strides, completely ignoring the onlookers waiting to see him make a fool of himself, and grabbed Chen Fan's thin shoulders.

His cloudy old eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins and a concern too deep to dissolve.

His voice was hoarse, and he comforted him in a tone that was almost a sob. "Xiao Fan, it's all right! We won't take the exam anymore!"

"What's one failure? You're only eight! Eight years old!"

"We'll come back next year! No, the year after that! There's plenty of time! I'll come with you!"

Seeing the despair and concern in the old man's eyes, which did not seem feigned, Chen Fan felt a faint trace of warmth ripple through his heart, which had remained as still as an ancient well.

He raised his head and met Li Guangming's grief-stricken gaze, stating a simple fact in his usual calm, unruffled tone.

"Principal, I was admitted early."

"Yes, yes, we'll... huh?"

The words of comfort Li Guangming had uttered on instinct abruptly caught in his throat.

As though a body-freezing spell had been cast on him, he went rigid on the spot.

His eyes widened, his bloodshot eyes filled with disbelief and confusion. He seriously suspected that the shock and anxiety had made him hear things.

"You... what did you say?"

Before his words had even faded—

"Rumble!"

Amid a shrill alarm, the examination hall's heavy alloy doors thundered open to either side once more!

Wei Tianlong, the director of admissions, personally rushed out like a whirlwind, leading several teachers whose auras were as deep as an abyss and as imposing as mountains, unfathomable in their depth!

His target was clear. He went straight up to Li Guangming, his face wearing an unprecedented expression of fervor mixed with excitement and solemnity.

"Principal Li! Congratulations! Congratulations!"

Wei Tianlong took the initiative to extend both hands, grasping Li Guangming's icy hands tightly and shaking them vigorously.

"On behalf of Jiangnan No. 1 High School—no! On behalf of our entire Human Federation, thank you! Thank you for nurturing such a... priceless treasure for us!"

His words exploded in Li Guangming's mind like a thunderbolt from the ninth heaven!

He abruptly lowered his head and stared hard at Chen Fan's impossibly calm face, then jerked his head up again to look at Wei Tianlong's seemingly genuine expression of fervor.

In an instant,

All the despair, regret, and grief... melted away like winter snow and ice beneath the blazing sun!

In their place came an overwhelming joy like an erupting volcano!

"Ha... haha... hahahahaha!"

Li Guangming could hold himself back no longer. He bent down, scooped up the somewhat startled Chen Fan, and spun around wildly with him held high!

His uninhibited laughter rang throughout the waiting area, with an unmistakable sob breaking through it!

Tears streamed down the old man's face!

The sight left everyone staring in astonishment.

Zhang Jianguo in particular stood to one side, the sneer on his face long since frozen, making him look like a cheap wax statue.

His mouth hung open, his eyes as wide as bronze bells. He stared dumbly at Chen Fan, surrounded by the teachers of Jiangnan No. 1 High School like the moon among the stars, then at Li Guangming, who seemed to have gone mad. His brain shut down completely.

He... he hadn't been bragging?

What he'd said... had all been true?!

An eight-year-old child... had been admitted early... to Jiangnan No. 1 High School?!

What the fuck... was this, a myth?!

After his burst of joy, Li Guangming carefully put Chen Fan down, as though setting down a rare treasure.

He wiped the tears from his face with his sleeve, took a deep breath, and straightened the clothes his excitement had left in disarray.

One moment, tears had been streaming down the old man's face; the next, he instantly resumed his old fox's demeanor.

He glanced at Zhang Jianguo, who had been completely petrified on the spot, and the corners of his mouth curled up in a look of utter, undisguised smugness and contempt.

"Oh my, he got admitted early by accident!"

"What are we supposed to do now? We haven't prepared anything!"

Then he straightened his back, and at that moment, his hunched figure seemed to grow taller.

Like a dragon guarding a rare treasure, he brought Chen Fan aboard the specially outfitted hovercar for the return trip, striding with his head held high as Wei Tianlong and the others personally escorted them through a crowd of envious, jealous, and astonished onlookers.

East Sea City.

The hovercar didn't stop for a moment, nor did it even let Chen Fan go home. Instead, it flew at top speed straight to East Sea Martial Arts Elementary School and landed in the middle of the playground.

The piercing sound rang throughout the campus.

Li Guangming exercised his highest authority as principal and used the broadcast system to call an emergency assembly of all the school's teachers and students.

A few minutes later, a dense crowd filled the playground.

Thousands of students and teachers looked up at the platform, puzzled and confused.

Li Guangming stood in the very center of the platform, a megaphone in hand. Looking at the young faces below, his heart swelled with heroic pride.

Using every ounce of strength he had, he shouted himself hoarse as he announced the news that could shake the entire city!

"I announce!"

"Our student, Chen Fan—"

"In the Jiangnan First High School independent admissions examination held today, he surpassed all the geniuses from thirty-six cities and, with an unprecedented result, was..."

"Admitted early to Jiangnan First High School!!"

Silence.

A deathly silence.

Then the crowd erupted!

"Boom!!"

"Boss is awesome!!"

"Chen Fan! Chen Fan! Chen Fan!"

Cheers, screams, and shouts converged into a terrifying wave of sound, as though they would tear the clouds in the sky to shreds!

Just then, atop the teaching building, a huge banner dozens of meters long and as red as blood slowly unfurled in the wind!

A line of large gilded characters on it gleamed in the afternoon sunlight, dazzling everyone's eyes!

[Warm congratulations to our student Chen Fan on his early admission to Jiangnan First High School!]

The whole school erupted!

In the crowd, Wei Zhe, Zhao Jie, and the others were flushed with excitement, tears shining in their eyes. They waved their fists wildly and shouted themselves hoarse, as though they were the ones who had been admitted.

Yet Chen Fan, at the center of the storm, merely stood calmly in a corner of the platform.

As though everything before him had nothing to do with him.