Team

(Thank you to Brother Ruo Ran for the leader's support—an old reader of more than ten years. Thank you to all the longtime readers for your support. Tianya will keep striving in the science fiction direction and endeavor to bring everyone worthwhile, meaningful works.)

On Monday, during the morning run, Chu Fei maintained his second-place result.

His body, tempered by Wisdom Dewdrops, had improved somewhat.

But he still could not catch up to Li Honggang in first place—if he went mad for it, perhaps he could.

But what if he took first today and fell to second tomorrow? Wouldn't that just be asking for a beating?

So staying in second was just fine.

Lu Hong, who came in third instead, got beaten because he had not given it his all. With Jiang Shaohu gone, he had automatically become third, but that did not count as improvement.

That morning's class was Natural Studies, taught by a middle-aged woman.

"My name is Gu Yuehua, and from now on I will be responsible for your Natural Studies lessons.

"In the post-apocalyptic world, Natural Studies is the study of survival, and it has developed rapidly because survival demands it.

"It is a comprehensive subject. Geography, minerals, mountains and rivers, flora and fauna, mutant beasts, common technological products, archaeology, combat, and more all fall within Natural Studies. More content is added every year.

"Compared with the other subjects, Natural Studies is relatively scattered, but it can broaden your understanding and open up your thinking and horizons.

"It is also the most important supplement to Big Data Cultivation.

"The Natural Studies examination has low requirements. Passing is enough; there will be no rankings."

When they heard there would be no rankings, a collective sigh of relief swept through the classroom.

But Teacher Gu added, "However, Natural Studies involves wilderness survival skills. For your own safety, you should still study it seriously."

The afternoon class was Electronic Circuits, and that was rather difficult.

The next day, Tuesday, they studied Language Arts and History in the morning. In the afternoon, they began studying Machine Language and Software Principles.

Language Arts and History were compulsory courses. They concerned where one had come from.

Wednesday was Philosophy and Psychology all day.

The science of cultivation encompassed not only the natural sciences, but also required support from philosophy, psychology, and the like. They mainly discussed humanity and nature, idealism, materialism, unceasing self-improvement, and so on.

Thursday was Meditation all day!

More precisely, it was abstract-thinking training, supplemented by psychology and philosophy.

Friday and Saturday were Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology.

A week's curriculum formed a complete "cultivation cycle."

During Saturday morning self-study, Cao Liwen announced, "There will be an exam tonight."

The atmosphere grew heavy.

Chu Fei could not help shuddering.

During last week's exam, one person had been beaten to death, and another had jumped off a cliff.

This week, Chu Fei had remarkably avoided the whip, but he always felt that Cao Liwen's gaze was somewhat strange.

After the day's classes ended, everyone was given only thirty minutes to eat.

The exam began at 17:30 and papers were collected at 21:30, for a total of four hours.

There were ten papers in all: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Electronic Circuits, Software and Machine Language, Language Arts, Philosophy, and Natural Studies.

There were not many questions on each paper, but altogether there were quite a lot.

The Whip Holder patrolled the examination room while Cao Liwen sat at the podium, constantly sweeping his gaze over them.

The only sounds in the classroom were the rustle of writing and pages being turned.

Time passed bit by bit.

Chu Fei rubbed his slightly sore wrist. He had finally finished answering everything. Looking up at the clock, he saw that it was already 20:27.

Most of the students were still busily answering their papers. Occasionally, a few anxious ones scratched their heads and tugged at their ears.

As Chu Fei checked his papers, he pondered their contents.

While answering this time, Chu Fei had used one Wisdom Dewdrop.

Yet he had gained something unexpected. Every question on the papers contained the wisdom of the teacher who had set it; they reflected thought and organization applied to knowledge.

Chu Fei greedily absorbed every scrap of knowledge like a starving man.

After finishing, he checked the papers again and indeed found omissions. Even Wisdom Dewdrops could not completely eliminate human carelessness.

By the time Chu Fei was checking them for the second time, time was up.

Cao Liwen called a halt, and the students at the back stood to collect the papers.

After that, an eerie silence filled the classroom, broken only by the sound of Cao Liwen flipping through the papers.

Five minutes later, they called roll.

Tonight's inspection was for paper presentation. Those whose papers had issues would receive one to five strikes on the palm.

There were two corrected marks on Chu Fei's paper, so he received four strikes—double punishment.

As for marking the papers, the results would come at eleven tomorrow morning.

Before then, everyone could get a good night's sleep—in theory.

In reality, no one could sleep.

After lights-out, Chu Fei gently rubbed his left palm. Tonight's four strikes had been hard enough to swell it, and it now prickled and itched.

There was no need to go to the infirmary for palm strikes, and even if he went, they would not treat him.

Since he could not sleep, Chu Fei sat cross-legged and prepared to meditate.

They had only been formally studying for eight days, so their current meditation method was simple: mentally sketching plane geometric figures. In truth, it was merely a method of training thought.

After using one Wisdom Dewdrop, Chu Fei entered the super state completely and began sketching geometric figures in his mind.

From individual basic shapes—squares, circles, trapezoids, ellipses, and so on—to composite shapes, from static to dynamic, he continued intensifying the training.

Two hours slipped quietly by, and the effects of one Wisdom Dewdrop ran out.

The results were good. Chu Fei had already constructed a cyclical figure containing 127 different triangles.

He was only one step away from the first threshold of 150 figures.

One hundred and fifty was a magical number.

According to elementary computational logic, such as tic-tac-toe machines, 150 switches—NAND gates—stood exactly at the critical point between simple computation and complex computation.

In other words, a computational structure with more than 150 NAND gates could barely be called a computer.

Wisdom Dewdrops are incredibly effective!

But I've only accumulated three drops in a week. That's far too little—I still need to study harder!

With a deep sense of lingering regret, Chu Fei drifted into sleep, only to be awakened by the bell.

After waking in the morning, he first checked the effects of last night's meditation.

He found that his meditation ability had fallen to eighty-seven triangles.

"Thought is like muscle; it needs repeated strengthening and training." Recalling the teacher's explanation, Chu Fei spent several minutes reinforcing it, then meditated out 116 triangles again.

Then came washing up, running, self-study, and breakfast.

During breakfast, someone came over to Chu Fei's side of the table and called out across it, "Chu Fei, someone outside wants to see you..."

Chu Fei narrowed his eyes slightly, recognizing him as one of Huang Dapeng's former right-hand men. He said calmly, "I'm right here. Tell him to come over."

The newcomer took a deep breath. "If you don't want trouble, you'd better go outside."

"If he wants trouble with me, tell him to come over."

"..."

Laughter rose from the surrounding tables.

The newcomer grew angry, his voice rising. "Chu Fei, Huang Dapeng accepted investment from the Greedy Wolf Team.

"Now you've made the Greedy Wolf Team's investment go down the drain!

"If you don't give the Greedy Wolf Team an explanation, this isn't over!"

The Greedy Wolf Team? Investment?

Though the information was limited, Chu Fei roughly guessed what was going on.

He replied blandly, "Then I'm even less willing to go outside."

The surrounding laughter grew louder.

Someone laughed loudly. "Tang Zhengang, where's your brain?"

"Old Tang is a sea squirt. Once it grows up, it eats its own brain first."

"So that's what a sea squirt looks like. It doesn't look like the pictures at all."

"Hahaha..."

Chu Fei looked at the newcomer. "Tang Zhengang?"

Tang Zhengang flew into a rage from humiliation. "Chu Fei, the Greedy Wolf Team is giving you a chance to explain yourself and make a choice. If you don't go, bear the consequences yourself!"

With that, he turned and left.

"Oh." Chu Fei lowered his head and continued eating, unhurried, though his gaze had grown somewhat gloomy.

Another person walked over, a sturdy youth much like Huang Dapeng. Smiling, he said:

"Hello, my name is Zhao Xiaofeng. Xiao as in small, Feng as in phoenix."

Chu Fei: ...

Looking at that burly body, then savoring that dainty name—unforgettable.